A South London woman accused of murdering her City banker boyfriend allegedly scrolled through text messages he had sent to a female co-worker after stabbing him to death while suffering a "severe depressive episode", a court has heard.
Joanna Cierpka, 51, an unemployed business executive, had experienced a significant decline in her mental health after being made redundant during the coronavirus crisis in 2020, the Old Bailey was told. She has admitted to killing her partner Henrik Slotsaa, 52, at their South London flat in March after he told her he had met someone else at Citibank, where he worked, and no longer loved her.
Psychiatrist details defendant's mental state
On Thursday, September 24, psychiatrist Dr Penny Brown told jurors that Cierpka had a depressive disorder and had been suffering from a "severe depressive episode". Dr Brown relayed interviews she conducted with Cierpka in the wake of the killing. Cierpka told her she had no memory of the killing itself but that Slotsaa had been "dismissive or offensive" just before, the court heard.
Prior to that, Cierpka said he would get "frustrated and angry and call her useless" and had threatened to "kick her out" and make her return to her native Poland. After learning on her birthday in January that he was interested in another woman, she mainly "had her head in the sand about it" and employed "an ostrich strategy", jurors were told.
Phone messages examined after the killing
Dr Brown said: "She told me she occasionally checked his phone including him sending her (the female co-worker) pictures she had taken of him while they were on holiday together."
On the killing, Dr Brown said: "She said she does not remember how it happened. She doesn't remember being in the bedroom. The next thing she remembers is sitting in the living room with the knife on the coffee table. She could remember there was blood on the knife and an awareness Henrik was in the bedroom and must be dead. She said she had wanted to kill herself and didn't know why he died."
Dr Brown continued: "She remembered going in the bedroom. There was blood but (she) didn't know where he was injured. She told me she had his phone and was going through it reading messages between him and the lady and the most painful ones were photos she had taken of him when they had special moments together. She said she read them after he died but had checked his phone prior to him dying."
Defendant's actions after the incident
The defendant went on to text Slotsaa's boss that he was "sick" and messaged his female co-worker confirming their plans to meet to "buy time". In the days before his body was discovered by police on March 15, Cierpka said she was "in a state between sleep and not sleep". She emailed friends and family to "push her over the edge to carry out the act to kill herself", Dr Brown said.
Dr Brown opined that it was "not uncommon" for people not to remember violent events such as homicides. Cierpka has pleaded not guilty to murder but says she is guilty of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility. The Old Bailey trial was adjourned until Tuesday.
