A MAN died after suffering a catalogue of injuries during a sustained attack before having his hands chopped off and his mutilated body being buried in a shallow grave, a jury has heard.
Tomasz Dembler suffered a number severe head injuries, 15 broken ribs and a fractured spine consistent with kicks and stamps.
Teesside Crown Court was told the 39-year-old was fatally attacked in a house on Edward Street, Middlesbrough, in the early hours of March 21 last year.
Five people are charged with murdering the father-of-one but three of the defendants have pointed the finger of blame at one of their co-accused.
Zbigniew Pawlowski is also alleged to have pulled a gun of one of the men when he tried to intervene in the violence.
The 41-year-old, of Leven Street, Newport, Middlesbrough; Rafal Chmielewski, 37, of Birchington Avenue, Grangetown; Tomasz Reczycki, 37, of Ashfield Avenue, Grove Hill, Middlesbrough; Monika Solerska, 37, of Birchington Avenue, Grangetown; and Adam Czerwinski, 45, of Edward Street, North Ormesby, all deny murder.
Peter Makepeace QC, prosecuting, said all five defendants maintained their innocence when they were arrested following the discovery of Mr Dembler's body in a shallow grave in woodland near Flatts Lane Country Park, Middlesbrough, three weeks after he was last seen alive.
He said: "It is the prosecution's case that all five were present at Edward Street the night Mr Dembler was murdered."
He said they were all involved in the disposal of his body and evidence linking them to the murder, including Mr Dembler's mobile phone and clothing.
Following the grim discovery of the alleged victim's body a post mortem was carried out to ascertain the likely cause of death.
Reading from Dr Louise Mulcahy's report, Mr Makepeace said: "The injuries were explicable with blunt force trauma; though the hand removal had to involve a sharp instrument. The injuries to the head- the pathologist’s favours use of kicks and stamps.
"The injuries to the neck- some sort of pressure applied to the neck, most likely by an arm.
"The multiple fractures to the ribs and associated bruising to the chest, are indicative of repeated kicks or stamps. The findings are that these were caused when Mr Dembler was still alive.
"They would have been very painful and perhaps impaired his ability to breathe."
Mr Makepeace said all five defendants were present in the house on the night Mr Dembler was killed and they all played a role in attempts to cover up the alleged murder.
The court heard how his hands, mobile phone and clothes have never been traced by detectives.
A carpet in the room where Mr Dembler was staying was also changed without the landlords permission, the barrister added.
The court heard how some of the defendants then returned to the burial site after Mr Dembler was killed.
Mr Makepeace said: "Within days the body is buried in a place where it is a miracle it was ever found. The hands were disposed of - they were never found.
"The mobile phones have gone, the evidence from Edward Street has gone and those resposible for the killing could sit back and expect to get away with it but very few seperations in life are as final as that.
"Some people cannot leave things alone, there is a human instinct to scrap at a sore rather than leave it alone. Some of the people involved in the murder could not let it lie."
Earlier jurors had heard how a trawl of CCTV identified two Mercedes registered to Chmielewski and Solerska were spotted moving between the house on Edward Street and the site where Mr Dembler's body was buried on the day he died – Sunday, March 21.
The trial continues.
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