There’s a news story I’ve been meaning to talk about for some time now. I never had the time for it, or the proper mood until now yet.

Which are characters of this story? Famous designer Romanita Iovan, one of the 50 richest women in Romania, according to a Capital top, her husband, Adrian Iovan and a presumed thief, Bogdan Iancu are part of this long debated issue.

On the night of October 5th, Adrian Iovan shot and killed a man that had broken into their house. Iovan caught the man, later identified as Bogdan Iancu, steeling some of their belongings. Iovan is presently being investigated. He has to prove he has been acting in self defense, clearing some very blurry details on how Iancu has been shot and where he had been found. Bogdan Iancu’s family, on the other hand, accused Adrian Iovan of murder. More details here, Romanian only.

False accusations followed these events (Ro). A convict stating himself and Bogdan Iancu had been Romanita Iovan’s lovers. He was not well-informed, it appears, as he stated they had visited Romanita at her present house back in 2001, when that certain house was merely a project. Also, the fact that Romanita knew Iancu was never proven, the conclusion of the investigation being the exact opposite.

The only innocent victim of this story was Romanita and Adrian Iovan’s unborn baby, baby that died soon after this event. One of the mother’s statements really touched me:
"I found out I was pregnant on October 3 and I took it as a much too precious present"(it was her birthday), said Romanita. "Unfortunately, I could not enjoy the moment too much - only one day of happiness, and then, on October 5, the nightmare began. All these events have jeopardized by baby's health. I am not 20 anymore, therefore I cannot say I have all the time in the world ahead of me. I am 41, and I do not have much time left. The doctors told me to rest, but could I rest now?” (Evenimentul Zilei- online edition)

Self defense laws are pretty blurry in my opinion. Who can clearly state when you are allowed to fear for your life and fight back? Maybe it wasn’t self defense at all, maybe we should have an American-like law that allows us to take action against those that decide your property is their playground. This is not the thing that the kind of debate I want to focus on though!

There are two other facts that really pissed me off about this story.

The first one, the nice little Gandul online team! I understand, you want your readers to comment, but when they state the she was not pregnant, she had a parasite inside of her, it gets pretty nasty! Also when they state she was to old to have the baby anyway…Another amazing comment “she should be ashamed cause she’s a tramp married to a killer! Did you lose the baby because of this or because Adrian Iovan hit you in the belly because you were cheating on him with Bogdan?”

It is not the opinions that bother me that much. It is the level of this conversation, which is simply low! I don’t get it, without using words like “shit” or other slang words are they completely unable to express an opinion? Why do they feel the need to use dirt instead of arguments, no matter which side they are on? I guess this says a lot about the education (or lack of it) of those reading this online newspaper…I don’t think a little comment moderation would kill the rules of free expression in this case!

The other fact, a TV show broadcasted by Antena 1, produced by a famous Romanian group called Divertis. They tried to make a funny/ironic story of this tragedy. And they got the three main characters face to face, fighting and blaming each other. No respect shown to any of the sides. I wanted to look at it, but simply couldn’t. There are things you simply don’t joke about.

My opinion is this: the law will decide if Iovan is guilty of anything. And no matter how many abortions Romanita has had, no one deserves to loose a baby, the pain is as real for all of us. Maybe the guilt is bigger in her case.

What I know of lives being endangered? Well I have had a knife held on my neck skin for about 2 minutes. In broad daylight, in the elevator of my own building! And all that because of a phone that he decided he wanted and eventually got to have. Well, I tell you something: if I had had the needed power and a baseball bat, maybe I would have used it: for threatening my life, for making me feel unsafe in my own home, for the years that followed and that were filled with fear! I sometimes want to get back at him for the fear I always experience when people hold knives of scissors around me, anything with a blade…Sometimes, just sometimes, fear can paralyze your senses, but it can also light up the rage, the animal instincts in you.

It is never right to kill a man, so if people want to blame something, blame that! If you believe property and your own life need protection against any endangering factor using any means available, ok preach that. But a little decency would not hurt any of the debaters.