Jury sees pictures of murder victim in shaft

The injuries sustained by a woman who fell to her death in a lift shaft two years ago were laid bare to jurors yesterday as photographs of the murder scene were displayed.

The body of 35-year-old Lyudmila Nykytiuk was covered in bruises, cuts and other wounds, which tallied with her husband’s version that she fell down the shaft in a block of flats in St Paul’s Bay on November 8, 2009.

She would have celebrated her 37th birthday today.

Her husband, 41-year-old Sergii Nykytiuk, stands charged with her murder and is pleading not guilty despite having told the police that, although he saw her disappear down the shaft and heard her cry for help, he did nothing until seven hours later when she was already dead. He said his wife had fallen down the shaft after an argument that had started after she tried to leave him and he caught her lying to him about an extra-marital affair.

Photographs showed Ms Nykytiuk’s at the bottom of the shaft with her dark blue jeans pulled down and her red top pulled up, exposing her black underwear and some of the wounds allegedly inflicted during the argument.

Prosecuting lawyer Nadine Sant noted a low piece of wood propped up against the entrance to the shaft from where the victim fell.

Ukrainian translator Lyudmila Pluskina testified that she was present for most of the police interrogations. She said that the accused had been told that if he admitted to the police they would treat him like someone who was wronged by his wife but if he chose not to cooperate he would be treated like a “cold blooded killer”.

Answering questions by defence lawyer Malcolm Mifsud, she said the police also told the accused of the infamous murder of Silvia King who was burnt alive. In that trial, the person who admitted his involvement was given a shorter jail term than the one who had contested his involvement and who received a life sentence, she said.

Former Police Inspector Paul Bond said that shortly after arriving at the scene of the crime it dawned on him that there was more than met the eye and everything pointed to foul play. He went inside the couple’s flat where he could see broken items on the floor and blood stains on the walls in the common area of the block.

While taking the accused to the police headquarters, he asked him in the police car whether he had pushed his wife down the shaft and Mr Nykytiuk’s immediate response was that he had but, in the same breath, said: “No, no.”

The members of the jury yesterday inspected the crime scene.

The trial continues.