A childhood friend of a man accused of murdering his toddler son has told a trial how his pal “joked” about killing the child.
Wojciech Marchlewski, 41, told the jury how Lukasz Czapla laughed after making the remark about two-year-old Julius.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard Mr Marchlewski say how he met with Czapla in November 2020.
The taxi driver told the court Czapla told him he had split from the boy’s mum Patrycja Szczesniak.
He told him Patrycja was not a “good mother” and she had become involved with somebody else.
He said his friend was “stressed” during the chat, in which he revealed he loved Julius “so much.”
Taxi driver Mr Marchlewski, of Edinburgh, then told prosecutor Alan Cameron Czapla then made a joke during the conversation.
“He joked about killing Julius. He laughed at the end of it.
“I said ‘it’s an extremely bad joke’.
“I felt so awkward but at the same time it didn’t surprise me because Lukasz used to joke like this.”
Childhood friends
Mr Marchlewski told the court that he had known the accused since childhood.
He said they had moved from Poland and had both come to live in Edinburgh in 2005.
Mr Marchlewski said they had not continually stayed in touch but they met up in November 2020 and drank beer at Czapla’s home in the capital.
“He said that she’s got someone now and that she’s taking Julius away.
“He said that he loves Julius so much and he had some plans.”
Mr Marchlewski told jurors that he asked Czapla what his plans were and that he replied that “kidnap doesn’t make sense”.
The witness then told the court Czapla made the comment about killing his son.
“I tried to cheer him up. I tried to help him out.
“I said he could get help from somewhere.
“He got his rights as dad.
“He doesn’t need to be so sad about things.”
Admitted he killed son
Mr Marchlewski was giving evidence on the third day of proceedings against Czapla, 41, a former IT technician at Fife College in Dunfermline.
The accused denies murdering Julius at a house in the city’s Muirhouse area, sometime on November 20 or November 21 2020 and other charges.
He is accused of striking the boy repeatedly with a skewer, shooting him repeatedly in the head with an air weapon and smothering him with a pillow.
The jury heard a joint minute agreeing Czapla had killed his son.
He had offered to plead guilty to culpable homicide and has lodged a special defence that he was of diminished responsibility at the time.
The trial before Lord Beckett continues.
