A man has gone on trial accused of murdering Romanian teenager Marioara Rostas (18) whose body was found in a shallow grave in Wicklow four years after she disappeared in 2008.

Alan Wilson (35) of New Street Gardens denies killing the girl who died from multiple gunshot wounds to the head.

The prosecution alleges that she was shot in a house in Brabazon Street in the Coombe in Dublin between January 7th and 8th in 2008.

Sean Gillane SC told the jury they will hear evidence that Marioara Rostas was picked up by a man in a car while begging with her brother at the busy junction of Pearse Street and Lombard Street, behind Trinity College at around 2pm on January 6th.

Her younger brother will say that the man was driving a Ford Mondeo and that he indicated he and Marioara would get some food and return in a few minutes.

Her family never saw her again.

The Central Criminal Court was told there would be evidence that a 'very upset' and 'frightened' Marioara Rostas phoned the mobile of a relative in Romania, the following day. She was reported missing to An Garda Siochana.

Mr. Gillane said several months later her brother identified a Silver Ford Mondeo with a '01-LH' registration that the accused man Alan Wilson admits owning.

However he denies driving the car on the dates he is alleged to have murdered the teenager.

Mr. Gillane said there was a 'hugely significant development' in the 'dying days' of 2011 when Fergus O'Hanlon - the partner of Alan Wilson's sister - told gardai he had information on Marioara's disappearance and was willing to assist in their inquiries.

As a result gardai began searching an area of land at the Dublin-Wicklow border on January 11th 2012.

Body found wrapped in black plastic liners

Mr. Gillane described it as an 'area of great beauty matched only perhaps by its isolation'. Five days later they found what he described as an empty 'ready-made grave'.

The jury heard there will be evidence that a week later. her nearly-naked body was found in a shallow grave nearby.

She was wrapped in black plastic liners that was secured with duct tape. There was a pillow case over her head and a sheet around her legs.

She had four gunshot wounds to the head from a .22 calibre firearm.

The jury was told Fergus O'Hanlon will testify that he received a phone call on January 7th 2008 to return to 2 Brabazon Street in the Coombe.

He is expected to give evidence that on his arrival that evening, Alan Wilson came down the stairs carrying a firearm, showed him what appeared to be a corpse in an upstairs bedroom and told him that she had been a witness.

The jury heard he felt physically sick but will claim he assisted the accused in disposing of the body and spent two days cleaning the bedroom.

It is alleged Alan Wilson's last words to him were 'You never saw what you saw'.

The jury has heard the house in Brabazon Street was subsequently fire damaged by arson. However scenes of crimes experts will say they found bullet holes in the wall and two rounds of .22 calibre ammunition.

The trial before Mr. Justice Patrick McCarthy is expected to last three to four weeks.