Man 'tried to fake partner's suicide' after beating

A Polish man allegedly tried to hang his partner to make it look like a suicide as well as severely beating her and throwing a knife at her head the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court has heard.

Mr Lech Szymczk (aged 49) of North Great Charles Street, Dublin 1 is accused of trying to strangle Ms Danuta Pisarska with the belt of her dressing gown after drinking 15 cans of beer and beating her for an hour.

He is also alleged to have kept her tied up and to have held her captive until the morning.

Speaking through an interpreter, Ms Pisarska told prosecuting counsel, Ms Eilis Brennan BL, that she and the accused had come from Poland together two and a half years ago.

She said they had been in a friend's house in August 2006 and returned to their flat where Mr Szymczk started complaining she had not helped him get a high enough price for selling a car to his friend.

She said he became very aggressive and began to hit her with his fists and to "bang his head against my head".

"When he gets angry he can't stop once he starts, unless he is tired or someone else beats him up as well," she said.

Ms Pisarska said he beat her for about an hour and she was only able to protect herself with one hand as she had recently injured the other in a car accident. She said he then got her dressing gown belt and hung it above the bed, tying a loop in one end and forcing her head into it.

She claimed he was pushing her so she would hang more on the belt. "He wanted to kill me but he didn't want to do it with his own hands so it would look like I did it to myself."

She said he stopped using the belt and strangled her with his hands until she lost consciousness. When she came to she claimed he ordered her to make him something to eat and when they were in the kitchen he threw a knife at her head but missed.

Ms Pisarska said the accused hit her a few more times before getting another beer and going to bed. When asked by Ms Brennan how she felt she replied: "I kept thinking it would be better if he killed me so it wouldn't hurt so much anymore."

Mr Szymczk has pleaded not guilty to one count of assault causing harm and two counts of endangerment in his flat in North Great Charles Street in August 2006.

The trial continues before Judge Tony Hunt and a jury of seven men and five women.