A POLISH woman accused of murdering her lover in their Co Tyrone home was yesterday granted bail to stay at a shelter in Belfast.
Aneta Sadowska (36), is alleged to have used different knives to stab Marek Sewern (37), through the heart and stomach a day after their son was christened.
Mr Sewern, also a Polish national, was also beaten over the head with a blunt object – possibly an ashtray or frying pan – following a drinking session at the couple’s flat in Omagh last December, according to prosecutors. The court was told that Ms Sadowska, with an address at Rathronan House, Hospital Road, in the town, formed a relationship with the victim after splitting with her husband.
Her former partner and an older daughter have since returned to Poland, fuelling prosecution concerns that she may flee if released. But Mr Justice Hart ruled that on balance the presence of Ms Sadowska’s young child in Northern Ireland was a strong incentive for her to stay.
The judge was told that the next available bed at a Women’s Aid hostel in south Belfast would be allocated to the accused.
He ordered, however, that she was not to be released on bail until the authorities have received confirmation that a place is ready for her at the refuge.
Earlier in the application it emerged that police found Ms Sadowska in a neighbouring flat wearing socks covered in blood and apparently drunk after emergency crews were called out on December 15th.
A crown lawyer claimed she and Mr Sewern had been drinking heavily when a row developed over the victim losing his job.
A postmortem revealed the murdered man suffered a laceration above his right eye, caused by a blunt object. He was also stabbed in the chest, the blade went through the heart. A separate knife wound was inflicted to the stomach, the court heard.
Ms Sadowska’s barrister described a background of alleged domestic violence against his client.
He also told of a contraceptive device fitted into her arm a month before the murder which, it was suggested, can cause heightened levels of aggression through the release of hormones.
As well as directing the accused to live at the hostel, Mr Justice Hart imposed an alcohol ban and ordered her passport and Polish identification documents to be lodged with the court.