Mihail Trofim: Moldovan who caused ‘horror crash’ left country before sentencing for ‘medical treatment’

A bench warrant was issued for the arrest of Mihail Trofim on April 11 after he failed to turn up to Dublin Circuit Court to be sentenced for careless driving causing serious bodily harm and driving without insurance on June 8, 2022, at the Old Navan Road, Blanchardstown, Dublin.

The 27-year-old is believed to have fled to his native Moldova just one day before he was to be sentenced for causing catastrophic injuries to a man he ran over.

Trofim, with an address at The Copse, Citywest Demesne, Dublin, struck a pedestrian while driving at speeds of up to 88kph in a 60kph zone.

Trofim attended court on April 10 for his sentencing, but Judge Martin Nolan adjourned the case until the following day when the accused didn’t turn up.

Mihail Trofim posing with a Porsche SU

The court was told Trofim had attended hospital due to a medical condition, but gardaí had made enquiries and could not locate him at the hospital in question. A warrant was issued for his arrest.

The Sunday World called to Trofim’s home this week and his sister said that he left the country, claiming he travelled to Moldova for hospital treatment because the wait time was too long in Blanchardstown Hospital.

“He has his surgery on his leg. He is in hospital. He is in our country in Moldova. He will be about three weeks before he is back.

“He will be back. He knows.”

She claimed he took ill after attending court on April 10.

“After the court on Thursday he was shocked and he has low blood pressure and has varicose [veins] in his leg. The vein just ‘boom’, you know.”

Asked why he would travel all the way to Moldova and not just go to hospital in Dublin, his sister said: “He was in Blanchardstown in the emergency department but you know you have to wait there and the GP said ‘maybe it’s better you go to Moldova’.”

People with varicose veins are advised against travelling long distances due to the potential of blood clots.

Trofim’s sister said her brother was distraught with causing the injuries to his victim.

The victim, who attended court in a wheelchair, required emergency life-saving surgery, was unconscious for 14 weeks after the accident and still doesn’t remember the two years before it.

He has been left with a brain injury and can no longer play his musical instruments or paint.

Mihail Trofim was speeding when the accident happened

In a victim impact statement read on his behalf by his mother, the court was told the victim feels “robbed of the life he had” and trapped.

“I’m encapsulated in a body that doesn’t work as it should,” the victim said. “I’m no longer able to do the things that made me happy.”

A number of medical reports were handed in to the court, which showed the injured man sustained life-threatening injuries, along with broken arms, legs and ribs. He spent a year and a day in hospital, including in the National Rehabilitation Hospital.

He has been left with double vision, slurred speech, memory difficulties and impaired use of his limbs. He also requires the assistance of a wheelchair and constant care from his family, especially his mother, who moved counties to care for him.

Trofim said he didn’t see the pedestrian crossing the road due to sunshine.

His sister said this week he was distraught over causing the injuries to the victim.

“I was reading the case and the comments below are so rude.

“My brother didn’t want to do this. Nobody wants to do this. Three years my brother was thinking about this person. I was thinking as well. We wanted to go to him but the solicitor said we can’t go to help him and apologise. He said were not allowed to do this.”

She said Trofim will return from Moldova in the coming weeks and hand himself in.

“He will be back and he will do his sentence,” she said.

The Sunday World attempted to phone Trofim a number of times this week but his phone was switched off.

At the sentence hearing, Sergeant Paul McDonnell testified that the injured party was crossing the road around 8.15pm that day when Trofim’s Mercedes hit him at 83 to 88kph in a 60kph zone.

After the impact, the accused turned his car around and returned. “I’m the driver. I couldn’t see. I couldn’t see. The sun,” he had said.

A witness told gardaí that he heard the loud engine of a car approach from the village of Mulhuddart, as the man crossed the road.

The witness looked behind and saw what he described as a sports vehicle. The car did not slow as it approached him.

“I just knew an accident was going to happen,” he said, describing the car “powering on at speed around the corner… couldn’t have seen around the corner”.

“I saw him fly up into the air,” he said of the pedestrian.

Another witness said the driver looked shocked in the moment following the impact, with “wide eyes”.

Trofim has no previous convictions and the court heard he doesn’t drink or do drugs, spends a lot of time in the gym and was previously a wrestler.

The court heard Trofim is currently driving for a living.

In online profiles he said he previously worked as chef in Browne’s Steakhouse in Blanchardstown, which was the scene of an infamous incident which claimed the life of Jason Hennessy Snr in a Christmas Eve gun attack and the gunman Tristan Sherry in the aftermath of the attack.

The restaurant has since closed.