A woman wept as she told a murder trial the moment she found out her best friend had been found dead at the home of her former partner.
Mohammed Ali Abboud denies killing Agnieszka Szefler, 27, in Bridge of Earn’s Horsemill Place on January 23 and attempting to conceal the crime.
The 57-year-old lodged a special defence of self-defence on the first day of his trial at the High Court in Edinburgh.
Aleksandra Pruszak, 32, said that Miss Szefler, who was known as Aga, was due to stay with her in Perth on a visit to Scotland from Kuwait and had been dropped off by Abboud from the airport at around 11am.
Breaking down, Mrs Pruszak said: “She stayed for about ten minutes. I had just given birth to my son. We hugged briefly and spoke for a few minutes about her flight, was she tired, how was it with Ali.
“She was speaking to my baby. I gave her the cases and she left.”
She said Miss Szefler planned to go to Abboud’s home to pick up belongings and said she would be back at 6pm.
When Miss Szefler did not return, Mrs Pruszak said she made repeated phone calls and texts to her but “she didn’t reply and she didn’t answer my calls.”
Mrs Pruszak’s husband Karol then visited Abboud’s home and found a heavy police presence there and the house taped off.
Advocate depute Sheena Fraser asked Mrs Pruszak: “Did he give you information that Miss Szefler was dead?”See more in Wednesday’s CourierShe replied: “Yes, he came back with two police officers.”
Ms Fraser asked: “At any point when you shared a flat, did she suffer from pre-menstrual tension to the extent she got physically aggressive?”
“No,” Mrs Pruszak replied.
Mrs Pruszak was shown CCTV footage of Abboud earlier collecting Miss Szefler from the airport, where she was seen wearing distinctive ballet shoes.
She said Miss Szefler had first come to Scotland in 2008 and had studied teaching English as a second language at Perth College and Stirling University.
She said they had shared a flat and that Miss Szefler started a relationship with Abboud, known as Ali, in late 2008.
Mrs Pruszak said that Miss Szefler moved to Kuwait in 2013 and returned for visits to Scotland. She said that Ms Szefler and Abboud had split up at the end of 2014 ahead of a visit to Scotland on January 23 this year.
Defence advocate Ronnie Renucci asked if Abboud’s refusal to visit Miss Szefler in Kuwait or move there to be with her had caused a strain.
He asked: “She ended the relationship because he wouldn’t go to Kuwait?”
Mrs Pruszak said: “That was one of the reasons.”
Prosecutors allege Abboud bit Miss Szefler repeatedly on the body, struck her repeatedly on the body with a knife or similar instrument, pursued and straddled her, and again struck her repeatedly with a knife or similar instrument.
Abboud is then alleged to have washed blood from the knife used in the crime, removed it from the position it was in and placed it under Miss Szefler’s body to give the appearance she had fallen on it.
It is then alleged that Abboud repeatedly struck himself on the body with a knife to give the appearance that he had been assaulted by Miss Szefler and that he did so to avoid detection, arrest and prosecution and attempted to defeat the ends of justice.
The trial before Lord Uist is expected to last two weeks.