Murder accused remembers having knife in his hand
A Polish man on trial for murdering a young supermarket worker in 2009 has today told the Central Criminal Court that all he remembers of the incident is having knife in his hand and wanting confrontation.
Taking the witness stand on day six of his trial, Alexsander Nadowdny told the jury in his case that following a night out in Galway city with his friend, she showed him a knife in her bag and told him to “do something” about a boy that had been shouting at her.
The 28-year-old had spent the night of June 2, 2009 drinking in Karma nightclub with Jolanta Zlotnik, a friend of his, who is now the main prosecution witness in the trial.
After the club he said they sat together on the pavement as “his head was spinning” because he was so drunk, and he became aware of a person approaching Ms Zlotnik and shouting.
“I heard something like 'f**k Polish'” Nadowdny told the court through an interpreter, but said his level of English was very weak at the time.
Nadowdny said he fell asleep for a time, but Ms Zlotnik woke him up telling him something was happening, and pointed at a boy in a red t-shirt across the street, who was shouting at them.
“(Ms Zlotnik) was looking for something in her handbag. I thought she was reaching for a cigarette...but she showed me a knife. She said to 'do something about it',” Nadowdny said.
He said he took the knife and went across the street towards the youth. “I wanted confrontation with him.”
Nadowdny said the boy started shouting and spitting on him, and he wanted to say something back, but didn't have the English. “I think I wanted to defend her, but I really don't know now what I wanted,” Nadowdny said, with his head bowed.
He said there was a “kind of confrontation” and that it all happened very quickly. “I think it was something bad”, then Ms Zlotnik took his hand and dragged him away he said.
He put the knife in the pocket, but when he awoke in Ms Zlotnik's house the following morning, he no longer had the knife.
The two went into the city together again the next afternoon, and when he saw a white tent opposite the entrance to Karma nightclub, Nadowdny said he recalled having the knife in his hand for the first time.
When he went to the King's Head pub to check his work roster, he said his colleagues started laughing and joking that he had killed someone.
“I got very scared and frightened and I felt that I had a lot to do with it” he said.
Nadowdny, formerly of Renmore Park in Galway city, has denied murdering Kieran Cunningham, who had been out with a group of friends in Karma on the night in question.
The 20-year-old sustained three stab wounds, to the chest, stomach and one right through the heart, and died around an hour after being attacked.
Ms Zlotnik repeatedly denied that she had a knife or prompted Nadowdny to go towards Mr Cunningham, during her two day cross-examination in the trial last week.
Following the incident, Nadowdny fled Galway for Dublin where he lived rough and in a hostel on Gardiner street, before handing himself into gardaí in late July.
During his interviews with detectives, he repeatedly said he had no recollection of the incident.
Nadowdny is due to resume his evidence before the jury of five men and seven women tomorrow.
