Man allegedly murdered for leaving light on, court told

A murder trial has heard today that the alleged victim died after arguing with the defendant regarding a light being left on in their apartment.

The Central Criminal Court jury was hearing evidence on the first day of the trial of a 51-year-old Slovakian man charged with murdering a Polish man in North Dublin in 2007.

Josef Szabo of Rathlin House, Waterville, in Blanchardstown has pleaded not guilty to murdering 33-year-old Robert Kwiatkowski on or about April 20, 2007 at their apartment in Rathlin House.

One of their other flatmates, Eva Kocokova, explained that she and her partner, Ladislav Nemechek, shared the two-bedroom apartment with the defendant and the deceased.

She and Mr Nemechek shared a bedroom with an ensuite bathroom, Mr Szabo slept in the other bedroom and Mr Kwiatkowski slept on the couch. Mr Szabo and the deceased shared the other bathroom in the apartment.

She, Mr Nemechek and the deceased cooked together and Mr Szabo cooked in his bedroom, where he had a hotplate and cooking utensils, she explained.

Ms Kocokova said she, her partner and Mr Kwiatkowski had dinner together as usual on the evening of April 20 and the accused was in his bedroom. The couple decided to go shopping and she went to her room to get her coat.

On the way she noticed the light on in the bathroom that the two men shared. She told Mr Kwiatkowski this when she returned to the dining area.

She said that he went and knocked on the bathroom door but there was nobody there so he went to Mr Szabo’s room and asked why the bathroom light was on. She heard them arguing, she said.

“Robert came back to the dining room after a while and showed that his hand was injured by Josef closing the door to his face,” she said through an interpreter. “He was in pain and he was upset.”

She said that Mr Kwiatkowski returned to the defendant’s bedroom and showed him his hand. She heard them argue again.

“We heard a noise when Josef threw Robert out of his room, something banged” she said, explaining that it sounded like something heavy hitting a wall and falling to the floor.

She said she ran out to the hall and saw the deceased lying face down on the floor. She and her partner turned his head and she saw that he was going blue and there was blood coming from his mouth.

“I started screaming that something might be stuck in his throat,” she said. “Ladislav opened his mouth and could see his tongue was in his throat.”

She said the defendant had come from his bedroom and was also trying to help Mr Kwiatkowski. Both men tried to pull his tongue out and told her to call an ambulance.

Ms Kocokova cried as she recalled banging on a neighbour’s door. Two Africans came out and called the emergency services, she said.

“Robert couldn’t breathe,” she said. “Josef brought a knife and was trying to make a hole for Robert to breathe. I said you can’t do that, the knife was too big and they could kill him. It had to be a tiny knife.”

She said she wiped the blood from the dying man’s face with a towel, thinking it might help him breath.

“But he was choking,” she recalled. “Ladislav gave him the kiss of life and started first aid, massaging his heart. I was slapping his face for him to come back.”

She said she moved Mr Kwiatkowski legs on her partner’s advice in an effort to keep his heart pumping. She said the ambulance seemed to be taking too long and she returned to the neighbouring apartment to call again.

The court heard that Mr Kwiatkowski was pronounced dead about 10pm that night in the nearby James Connolly hospital to which the ambulance had taken him.

Paul Burns SC, prosecuting, told the jury of three women and nine men that forensic evidence would show that the victim’s blood found in the defendant’s bedroom was consistent with his bleeding in there.

“It’s the prosecution’s case that the accused man killed Robert Kwiatkowski by stabbing him once in the chest,” he said, adding that the jury would be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that it was murder.

The trial continues tomorrow before Mr Justice Barry White, when Ms Kocokova will be cross examined by the defence.