Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Murder accused ‘looked worried’
A MURDER suspect told a neighbour that he had killed a man in a Dundee block of flats, the High Court at Aberdeen has heard.
Latvian national Aldis Minakovskis, 24, is on trial accused of stabbing 34-year-old Aigars Upieneks on December 23, 2015 at a flat i n Menzieshill’s Thurso Crescent.
The High Court heard a statement provided to police on Christmas Eve by the late Stanislav Keiviss, whose flat Minakovskis and Mr Upieneks’ wife Jolenta attended at around 4am.
He told police: “I saw Aldis and Jolenta coming up the stairs. Aldis looked scared when I saw him but I’m not sure Jolenta knew exactly what was going on.
“Aldis told me he killed Aigars. He told me Aigars pressed his knee so hard against his back he could not breathe.
“He told me he grabbed a knife and stabbed him but I do not know where.” The witness said Mr Upieneks chased the accused into the close but “Aldis stabbed him in the back so far the blade got stuck in his back and the handle snapped off”. He added: “Aldis said he saw blood coming out of Aigars’ mouth and he ran away. He thought a neighbour had seen him.” Earlier, the trial heard from the alleged victim’s widow. The mother-of-five told the court that the couple went to meet Minakovskis on December 22. They also met with a man named only as Vladimir who was arranging a flat viewing for the couple. The four drank alcohol then Vladimir went home. Later, Minakovskis and the couple shared cider, wine and beer and watched a DVD at the flat in Thurso Crescent. Minakovskis and Mrs Upieneks then agreed to return to the accused’s flat to get more alcohol while Mr Upieneks slept. However, he phoned his wife at around 9pm.
Mrs Upieneks said: “He had just woken up and he said it was going to be bad for me if I didn’t come quicker and I’d regret it. I can’t remember exactly.
“Aldis then took the phone, he went into another room, gave it to me and said he would be back. I didn’t know if he meant he was going to the toilet. I didn’t hear the door close. His flatmate was playing loud music, so I didn’t hear.”
She added: “It was about five or six minutes, he came back and said ‘I guess I stabbed a person’, or ‘I killed someone’.
“He came in quietly and he looked worried.”
When asked by advocate depute Stewart Ronnie if she asked why Minakovskis had stabbed her husband, Mrs Upieneks simply replied: “No.”
Minakovskis denies struggling with Mr Upieneks before striking him on the body with a knife, chasing him into a common close before again repeatedly striking him and murdering him.
The trial continues.