Jockey breaks down over grisly account of partner’s death

The Scott family are well- known in South African horseracing circles. Her brother Rob is a racing director of the Racing Association, head of horseracing television channel Tellytrack racing and Phumelela’s marketing and media division, and her other brother Colin is a racehorse trainer in KwaZulu-Natal.

The Scott family arrived in force for the hearing, as did members of Gregorowski’s family.

Following Gregorowski’s admission he had been in a relationship with Scott for three years, the court heard Scott lived with her father and had arrived at the jockey’s residence earlier on the day of her death. The couple and Gregorowski’s housemate had shared dinner and red wine, prior to him and the housemate leaving for a nearby pub.

Gregorowski said he had been involved in a fight with a third party at the pub before walking home by himself.

He said when he arrived home he could hear Scott showering and waited outside until she let him in. The couple began arguing shortly afterwards.

“I had been knocked around at the pub. I had blood on my nose and mouth.

“I wanted to get to the bathroom, I had to get Janet off my back,” said Gregorowski.

He charged that Scott had attacked him three times and he had retaliated by pushing and giving her a “backhand, I slapped her in the face”, before shutting himself in the bathroom.

“I carried on until I had finished. When I opened the door, her head was turned to the side, awkwardly positioned. She was bleeding from her nose.”

At this point Gregorowski broke down, saying, “I called out her name, there was no response”.

He tried to resuscitate her, before dragging her to his bedroom.

“I tried to pick her up and take her to the bedroom, but I didn’t succeed as I was wet from the shower. So I dragged her through to the room.

“I wanted to get her off the tiles and on to the carpet,” he said.

Once there, he said he tried resuscitation again. When this failed, he placed her on the bed and covered her with a blanket, after which he attempted to commit suicide.

“I tried to slit my wrists with a knife, but the cut was not deep enough. I also took an extension cable, hung it in my room and tried to hang myself.

“I must have blacked out. I woke up on the floor a couple of hours later.”

Court was adjourned for the accused to compose himself and once back on the stand, State prosecutor Nqobile Malinga grilled Gregorowski regarding the injuries sus- tained by Scott.

Malinga highlighted that Scott’s face was “so swollen and full of blood” that she was unrecognisable.

She asked the accused about blood on the mattress, carpet, on the floor and in the passage, as well as blood spatter found on the walls, also adding that Scott’s body had been bruised in a number of places, including her arms and thighs.

Gregorowski said he suffered from bipolar disorder and had not been taking medication for the condition.

During her cross-examination, Malinga asked about the argument between the couple.

Gregrowoski said Scott accused him of planning to leave her for a younger woman.

“She accused me of having a relationship with a younger person and that I wanted to leave her. She could not accept that. I asked her to pack her bags and leave the next morning,” he said.

With regard to Scott’s injuries, Gregorowski said her bruises could be accounted for when he dragged her to the bedroom.

He had no recollection of blood spatter, but thought it could have come from his hands as he was spinning when he tried to hang himself.

When Malinga questioned him on what happened when he woke up, Gregorowski said he had gone outside and called his mother.

“I apologised to my mother. I said, ‘Janet is dead.’ I apologised and I cried.”

tanya.waterworth@inl.co.za

Janet Scott