Teenage woman accused of murder tells court she was ‘scared’ of man she stabbed

Martyna Ogonowska (18) has admitted stabbing Filip Jaskiewicz to death in a car in Oakdale Avenue in the early hours of October 21 last year.

She denies murder.

Today (Tuesday) she told Cambridge Crown Court Mr Jaskiewicz had ‘scared her’ in the moments before the stabbing - and told jurors she had made the fatal wound, after she was given a knife by one of her friends after she (Ogonowska) had fought with Mr Jaskiewicz.

She said she thought she had dropped the knife - and wanted to help save Mr Jaskiewicz, but she was in shock.

She told the jury she had been to The Solstice bar with the 23-year-old van driver, her mum and two of her friends - Zofie Fedakova and Peter Csisco.

When they left the bar, they got into Mr Jaskiewicz’s VW Golf, and drove to Stanground, where they drank near to a lake.

Polish national Ogonowska told the jurors they then got back into the car, as Mr Jaskiewicz had agreed to take them back to Ogonowska’s home in Victoria Place, Peterborough.

But Ogonowska said: “I was shouting at him. He was driving too fast. He wasn’t driving properly. He told me to shut up.

“I knew he wasn’t going towards the house, he was going somewhere else. That’s why I tried to stop him.

“I was scared.

“He was laughing when I told him to stop and he kept driving. I was crying because I was scared.”

Ogonowska said Mr Jaskiewicz eventually stopped the car in Oakdale Avenue.

She said: “We had an argument, and I wanted to go home. He said that I wasn’t going anywhere.

“I got out of the car and I slammed the door. He followed me and we had an argument. He grabbed me by the neck and pushed me. I fell, landing on my knees, and he pushed me on my back.”

Ogonowska told the court Mr Jaskiewicz was talking to her during the argument - she said she ‘couldn’t remember properly’ what he said, but it was like ‘I would be his always.’

Miss Fedakova and Mr Csisco then came to calm the situation down, and they all got back into the car. Ogonowska said they talked about getting a taxi, but Mr Jaskiewicz ‘became aggressive towards me again’ as she sat in the front passenger seat.

She said they argued, with both calling each other names, until eventually he slapped her.

She said: “I was scared of him. I was scared as I didn’t know what he was capable of.’

When he slapped her, she said Miss Fedakova asked her to get out of the car, and she said the pair went behind the car.

Ogonowska said: “Before she said anything, she showed me the knife. She took it from her pocket.”

Ogonowska said she recognised the knife from her mum’s house, but she said she did not know Miss Fedakova had taken it,.

She said: “I asked her where she got it from, but she said that probably I would need it.”

Ogonowska said she took the knife, and hid it in the sleeve of her jacket, and got back in the car.

She said: “He was pushing me, calling me names, grabbing me by the shoulder. He was aggressive.

“I was scared of him and I didn’t know what to do. In the beginning he saw the base of the knife, and I showed it him. I said Zofie gave it to me.

“He said that I wanted to kill him. I said no.

“He was like, on me with his whole body, shoving me. He pulled my hair. He kept slapping me, with an open hand - my face, my shoulder, my legs.

“Then we started to have a fight.”

She said she kept the knife away from him, but they continued to struggle.

Matthew Jewell, defending asked her: “When did you realise the knife went into him.

She replied: “I noticed I wasn’t holding it in my hand. I thought it fell. I didn’t think it was in him.

“I noticed it and I removed it straight away to save him, I wanted to help him, I wanted to stop the bleeding, I wanted to call an ambulance. I was in shock.”

Ogonowska denied one count of murder and one count of possession of a knife in a public place.
The trial continues.