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MURDER TRIAL: Accused: ‘I stopped him molesting her but did not stab him’
Stephen Sleaford
A man accused of murdering a sex attacker told a jury today that he simply disarmed the molester and played no part in his death.
Stephen Sleaford said he did not see who stabbed factory worker Janusz Smoderek, 48, and had nothing to do with the stabbing himself.
Sleaford said he was walking with friends in the Fitness First area of Boston, during the early hours of the morning when he heard screaming.
He told the jury he then saw a teenage girl struggle to get away from a man who had grabbed hold of her.
Sleaford told the jury at Lincoln Crown Court: “I just heard a really loud piercing scream. We ran round the corner to where we thought it was coming from and we found the girl.
“There was a man that had grabbed hold of her. She was struggling to get away from him.”
Sleaford said that Adam Golding, who had been walking with, pushed the man away from the girl.
He told the jury: “I just tried to calm her down and tried to reassure her. She was hysterical.
“Me and Mr Golding went after the bloke. I think I punched him or pushed him. Mr Golding laid him out. The man ended up on his back on the ground.
“We went after him again. He pulled a knife. He was opening it. I grabbed both of his hands. I pushed him backwards and tripped him up. The knife fell out of his hands.
“He fell on the floor and Mr Golding just laid into him. He was punching him and then he started kicking him. I just left him to it and went back to the girl.
“Mr Golding was still with the man. I wasn’t watching what he was doing but he then came back and joined me.”
Sleaford said he then accompanied the girl to her boyfriend’s home.
The jury has heard how the body of Polish national Janusz Smoderek, was later found in the garden of a nearby house. He had been stabbed to death.
Sleaford denied he was carrying a knife at the time of the incident.
His barrister Julian Christopher QC asked him “Did you see anybody stab Mr Smoderek?” to which Sleaford replied “No I didn’t”
Mr Christopher then asked him “Did you have anything to do with the stabbing of Mr Smoderek?” Sleaford answered “No I didn’t.”
The jury was told that after the stabbing Sleaford went on the run for 11 days travelling first to Newcastle and then back to a number of addresses in Lincolnshire before he was arrested at a former girlfriend’s flat in Barnsley.
Sleaford said that he panicked because he felt he would be charged and held in custody simply because of his past criminal record.
He admitted to the jury that in 1994 he was jailed for 11 years for an offence of grievous bodily harm with intent after forcing his way into a house in Wyberton and shooting a man.
The jury has heard he also has a number of convictions for less serious offences.
Sleaford ,38, of Boston, denies murder on 11 September 2011.
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Weather for Boston, Lincolnshire
Friday 24 May 2013
Today
Light showers
Temperature: 5 C to 10 C
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Sunny spells
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