Sister of accused tells jury of her brawl with waitress

Apr 24 2008 by Chloe Griffiths, Liverpool Daily Post

THE sister of a man accused of murdering his former partner has told a jury she attacked the Polish waitress days before her death.

Less than two weeks before she died, Monika Szmecht told police she had been assaulted by her former partner Anthony Clarke.

The 21-year-old had suffered “horrendous” injuries, was covered in bruises and had fractured a bone in her hand.

She had been due to make a statement against father-of-three Clarke on June 11, 2007, when he allegedly abducted and imprisoned her in a van before repeatedly stabbing her and setting her on fire.

Former soldier Clarke, 27, of Halsey Crescent, West Derby, denies murder.

Yesterday his sister Shareen Clarke told the jury at Liverpool Crown Court it was she who had brawled with Miss Szmecht before her death.

Ms Clarke told the jury she had taken a dislike to Miss Szmecht, who had been having an on-off relationship with her brother for more than a year, because she was “a bit of a slag”.

Ms Clarke said on May 31 she had gone to a party at her brother's house where she had seen Miss Szmecht, a waitress at Bar Italia on Liverpool’s Castle Street.

She said: “I knocked on the door and, as I say, I had been drinking, I just went in and as I walked in I saw Monika standing at the side of the kitchen.

“She looked up and as we saw each other we both just went for each other.”

She added: “I don’t know what injuries the girl had because I never, never saw her again. But I was covered in bruises and cuts so I reckon she must have been, too.”

When challenged by Henry Riding, prosecuting, over why she had not mentioned the clash to police and only told her brother’s solicitors months after his arrest for murder, Ms Clarke said: “It wasn’t something I wanted people to know about.” On the day of her death, Miss Szmecht arranged to meet taxi firm owner Clarke so he could pay her £1,000 to stop her giving a police statement.

The pair met on Storrington Avenue, but Clarke insists he simply handed the cash over to protect his sister and had then given her a lift to a supermarket.

Miss Szmecht was found burnt and dying on an isolated country lane in Rainford hours later.