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Dad 'kicked to death after asking for a light'
A FATHER-of-two was kicked to death by three teenagers for asking for a light and "not saying goodbye", a jury heard.
A FATHER-of-two was kicked to death by three teenagers for asking for a light and "not saying goodbye", a jury heard.Polish man Piotr Bielicki (25) was walking along an isolated stretch of The Embankment by the River Nene in Peterborough when the Lithuanian teenagers launched the “savage”, “casual” and “mindless” attack, said prosecutor Nigel Godsmark QC.
A pathologist found more than 60 injuries on his body – including 25 bruises to the head and six broken ribs – Mr Godsmark told Cambridge Crown Court yesterday .
Mr Bielicki’s alleged attackers – two aged 18 and one aged 19 at the time – kicked him so hard in the stomach that blood vessels broke, the court heard.
One stamped on his head and left an imprint of a shoe, the jury was told.
They then took his mobile phone and left him on the floor, said Mr Godsmark.
Mr Bielicki had been walking to his home in Peterborough after a barbecue party and was found unconscious by friends after the attack, which took place at about 9pm on September 13, 2008.
He was taken to Peterborough District Hospital but died in the early hours of September 14.
Erikas Cicienas (20), Ricardas Kozevnikovas (19) and Augustinas Baltrunas (19) deny murder. Mr Godsmark said all three had denied knowledge of the attack when questioned by detectives.
But he alleged Baltrunas had told friends how Mr Bielicki had been set upon after asking for a light and “not saying goodbye”.
Fibres matching Mr Bielicki’s clothes had been found on Baltrunas’s clothing and blood matching Mr Bielicki’s had been found on shoes worn by Cicienas and Kozevnikovas, said Mr Godsmark.
He also said Cicienas had taken the SIM card from Mr Bielicki’s mobile, transferred it to his own phone then made a call to his girlfriend.
Mr Godsmark said the three men had been sitting on a bench drinking beer when Mr Bielicki walked by.
“He was attacked by these three defendants for no reason. He was savagely kicked and beaten,” said Mr Godsmark.
He added: “He was attacked, punched and kicked and left lying on the ground close to the bench and the beer cans from which these three defendants had been drinking.”
Mr Godsmark said the three defendants had been caught on closed circuit television as they made their way around Peterborough after the attack.
CCTV cameras had captured an incident where a homeless man asked them for change.
“Mr Kozevnikovas responded by kicking the man in the head,” said Mr Godsmark. “More casual and mindless violence.”
Mr Bielicki had moved from his native Poland – where he had studied business management – in 2005 to look for work and settled in Peterborough.
He worked as a car valeter and left behind his girlfriend, their three-year-old daughter and eight-year-old son in his home of Radom, near the Polish capital Warsaw.
Mr Godsmark said Mr Bielicki was a “well-liked” and “friendly man”.
He added: “He had a number of friends amongst the Polish community in Peterborough.”
Dozens of Polish people from Peterborough flew out to Radom last October to attend Mr Bielicki’s funeral and a concert staged by friends in his memory.
The hearing continues.
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