Jurors have heard details from the first interview that detectives completed with a trucker accused of murdering his "friend" and fellow lorry driver.
Rafal Seremak, 45, denies the murder and manslaughter of Miroslaw Iwaniuk, 50, at Nolan Transport in Astmoor Industrial Estate, Runcorn, on Wednesday, August 4 last year. Prosecutor John Benson, QC, told jurors Mr Iwaniuk died after “horse play” between a group of wagon drivers turned violent.
During the incident, Seremak offered a vape to Mr Iwaniuk, swept his leg and “pinned” Mr Iwaniuk face down on the ground in a “headlock”. Mr Iwaniuk lost consciousness and was pronounced dead later at Warrington Hospital, having suffered “traumatic neck and back injuries”.
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At Chester Crown Court on Thursday, prosecutor John Benson, QC, went through further evidence, starting by reading a brief statement from another driver, Janek Prokopovich, who said he was parked up with his curtains drawn and either watching a film or on the phone to his wife as usual on the evening of August 4 when he heard a “scream”.
He went to see what was happening and saw “Miroslaw lying on his side on the floor”. Another driver, Andrzej Kubiak, appeared to be trying to resuscitate Mr Iwaniuk, while “Rafal was making a phone call” and “seemed very stressed”.
Mr Prokopovich went to Mr Iwaniuk and began “hitting him on his back, I thought he was choking”. He then went to his cabin and rang Nolan Transport’s security desk in Ireland and also called the European emergency number 112.
Mr Prokopovich said Mr Iwaniuk’s torso was “becoming paler” and his “head was getting darker”, adding they continued trying to resuscitate him for 30 minutes until an ambulance arrived and a paramedic took over for half an hour before taking Mr Iwaniuk away.
He said they were doing CPR at the scene for around an hour in total, although it was “difficult” to keep a sense of time. The witness statement said he thought “Miroslaw and Rafal were friends”.
DC Hay was called as a witness, and together with Mr Benson, read a transcript of Seremak’s first police interview at Runcorn custody suite.
As recounted during the opening, in his police interview Seremak said a group of drivers including him and Mr Iwaniuk had been relaxing, eating Polish sausage and drinking beer, vodka and wine.
On a scale of one to 10 for intoxication, Seremak said he was “three or four” and drank three or four beers in total. His friend “Mirek” - Mr Iwankiuk - was “getting more and more drunk”.
He said Mirek hadn’t been happy with their friend Tomasz Kawka for not contributing to the alcohol, and Mr Kawka ended up handing over “20 quid” and said “you can keep it”.
As the evening continued, he said Mirek showed them the “middle finger” even though they were all “great mates”, and he believed Mirek had “too much to drink, he was looking for trouble, causing a problem”.
Seremak told the interviewing detectives he thought “Mirek wanted to beat up Tomasz” and jumped over a barrier and pushed Seremak away and “tried to hit Tomasz”, who ran away.
The suspect said he was asking Mirek “why (are) you trying to beat him up?”, and Mirek “pushed me with his belly about three times”.
He said he was "scared" and "afraid" of Mirek, who was a “large man”, weighing about “160kg” and “over 180cm tall”.
Describing how he knocked Mr Iwaniuk to the ground he said: “So basically I used my foot to knock him over, with the right leg you know when you make someone trip?”
He added he “swept the leg” and was “pushing”, but tried to hold him as he fell to avoid banging his head on the short wall.
Discussing holding Mr Iwaniuk down, Seremak told detectives: “I didn’t want him to get up - if he gets up he’s bigger and stronger, he’s going to beat me up.”
He said: “I kept on top of him and holding his neck.
“I was calming him down saying ‘brother, calm down, I will let you go if you calm down’.
“All this time I wanted him to calm down.”
Seremak denies murder and and manslaughter. The trial is expected to last 10 days.
Proceeding.
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