“Dude boy, you lack character!”

Both the victim and the three children accused of participating in the homicide were active, at different times, at AS Bobda, a junior club from a village in the same municipality, being trained by Ciprian Manolache, a coach known in the area for having sent several juniors to big clubs in the region.

Before taking the step to LPS Banatul, MD was noted for his developed physique and the potential to perform through the lens of basic qualities. The technician described conduct problems and episodes of violence on the field, but the measures he took did not produce the expected effects.

The child who killed in the crime in Timiș was a repeat offender. “I said let's help him, let's move him from the entourage”

In 2024, MD was brought to LPS Banat not by chance. After observing him in local competitions, coach Pavel Velcotă considered that the move to Timișoara could represent more than a step in a possible career. It was, equally, a way out of the Cenai environment, which the teacher knew was marked by problematic friend circles.

“Last year, I transferred him to the sports line. I saw him at Mr. Manolache, in a match where he scored a goal from a free kick, as a footballer he was not bad. I watched him for six months, physically good, tall, but the mental part and the character of him were not right. He didn't come to the training camp, I waited half an hour for him at departure and he didn't come, I called him, then I sent him off“, said the technician.

The coach explains to GSP that the decision to integrate him also had a human component, not just a sporting one. The club had a limited number of places with free meals and accommodation, offered to children with potential, but from vulnerable backgrounds. MD was one of them.

“He was a more bitter child, so we decided to help him, to offer him free accommodation, meals, to move him out of the environment. Basically, I promoted him, from CSS to LPS, just to get these benefits, it was also a second chance. We have two similar groups, my group was a selection group, and to be able to bring them to our school we bring them through the School Sports Club. We both operate as LPS. Then I found out, I also did research. He was a repeater for two years and in the exam, you see, he failed to take it. The identification is with us, we told him to come get it and go back to Bobda”, says Velcotă.

30of places LPS Banatul can provide for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Young players benefit from free meals, accommodation, equipment and camps

He had character problems. Absent from training, absent from matches, he didn't even announce that he wasn't coming to the training camp. I told him: “You can't work with me anymore!”. His mother came to give him another chance, his father was working in Germany. I met my mother, I think, about twice. I vouched for him as a player, but he didn't pass the exam. I don't know what happened anymore.
– Pavel Velcotă, LPS Banatul coach

Moving to Timișoara would have meant a clear break from the environment he came from, a strict daily schedule, mandatory attendance at training, school, camps, firm rules. A framework that, in many cases, works as a rescue mechanism for children at the border.

“Boy, you lack character!”

From a sporting point of view, MD was not a lost cause, quite the opposite! At the junior level, he had a profile that justified the move: size, strength, capacity for effort. At LPS Banatul, he was used both as a central defender and as a central midfielder, positions that entail responsibility and tactical discipline.

“As a footballer, he wasn't bad. I watched him for six months. Good physique, tall. I was preparing him for the Elite League, for September. He was born after September 2012 and could also play in the 2013 group,” explains Velcotă.

The Elite League represents the highest youth competitive level in Romania, a selection platform for future performance players. The young man encountered difficulties integrating into the professional environment.

“In one of the discussions with his mother, I told him that character matters most for performance. I also told him: “Hey boy, you lack character 100%, not 90%, nothing else! If you had a problem, you told me, when it exists, I know about it and I try to do something». Others say they don't have money for camp. We, in the camp, provide them with 50%. Free transport and 50% accommodation. The parent must also contribute, especially since, until the age of 12, the child can go to any club.

If you get upset, you can leave when you want, after you get everything for free, and then it seems normal to me to pay as a parent, to make sacrifices. Everything pays for school. At the big ones, those who play in the Elite League, they take care of everything”, added the coach.

The minor accused of murder in the case of the Cenai crime, alongside his father

• The General Directorate of Social Assistance and Child Protection in Timiș announced, on Monday, that the 13-year-old minor involved in the case in Cenei is subject to complex evaluations, both medical and psychological. The procedures are carried out with the consent and involvement of the family and are necessary to determine the measures that can be ordered later, including the inclusion of the child in specialized programs. Depending on the results of the assessments and the particularities of the case, the authorities will decide whether the minor will remain with the family or will be placed in a residential center.

• Meanwhile, the 13-year-old minor, considered by investigators to be guilty of killing the 15-year-old, is no longer in his grandparents' village, where, on Sunday night, dozens of people protested. The child was relocated to a specialized unit, where he is currently being evaluated. Tensions in the community persist, and some of the locals request that he not return to the village. According to Romanian legislation, minors cannot be held criminally liable.

“The rules saved us from a tragedy in our yard”

MD's path at LPS Banatul was fragmented. Discussions with the child's mother followed, requests for a new chance, attempts at reintegration, but the club's rules did not allow exceptions.

“With us, on the sports side, he doesn't move to the front. He came, I drew his attention. The first warning and if he didn't come to the match, he put a lid on him. He didn't comment on me. On May 24, I accepted him to the team, then it was his first match. If you don't have 100% attendance at training in a week, you don't even come to the match. We also have no way of getting to know the kids very well.

These strict rules kept the environment healthythey saved us, perhaps, from a tragedy in our yard. No one could have guessed what this child can do. To plan for a month, to do all this…”, adds Velcotă.

In one of the discussions with his mother, I told him that character matters most for performance. As an athlete, at some point you fall, in a year, two, three. But you don't get to the top of the pyramid without character
– Pavel Velcota

The minor accused of murder, in the T-shirt of LPS Banatul

The psychotherapist's conclusions: “He had a talent for sports, but not the ability to manage discipline”

To understand why sport was not enough, Gazeta Sporturilor contacted a psychologist, who preferred to speak under the protection of anonymity. His analysis moves the discussion from football to psycho-emotional development.

“He had a talent for sports, but not the ability to manage the limit given by a sports discipline: attendance at trainings, everything that implies compliance with a regulation. At school, the same. All the adults who interacted with him should have noticed that he was not okay. It's a failure of the whole community.

The escalation of the child's deviant behavior, up to the current situation, came in this “natural” way. He's been doing everything he can to draw attention to himself all these years, and now he's succeeded. He became more famous than the victim”, the specialist explained to GSP.RO.

The psychologist explains that the escalation of deviant behavior does not appear suddenly, but is the result of years of ignored signals.

“The fact that a 13-year-old child, not physically or psycho-emotionally formed, has come to be known as a bully in the community is the first signal that something is wrong, and at the same time, it is a failure of those who were supposed to notice this. All the transgressions, social and emotional boundaries were signs that the surrounding adults did not treat.

He continued to escalate all these limits, reaching the actualization of the crimeof an idea that, once born, no longer had any limits, because there was no one there to put it”, the psychotherapist also pointed out.

In this context, sport can provide structure and belonging, but it cannot resolve deep trauma or parental absences.

Lack of education contributes to deviant behavior problems in minors by lacking clear boundaries and early emotional support, allowing uncontrolled anger to build up. For a gifted child from a disadvantaged background, sports provide mass and belonging, but do not resolve trauma. Crime is a failure across the board: parents, school, community, country!
– psychotherapist