Woman saw lover bleed to death after he slit his throat during Skype call
A WOMAN watched helplessly as her partner slit his throat 7,000 miles away during a Skype video call, an inquest heard yesterday.
Julie Zalinski was having a conversation over the internet with Adrian Rowland during a business trip to India when he suddenly cut his throat and wrists with broken glass.
Although she immediately called 999, the emergency services in Delhi, where the father of three was staying, refused to intervene after they were contacted.
Instead, she was forced to watch for several hours online as his life ebbed away.
The authorities in India would not help her boyfriend of two-anda-half years because he would not open his door.
Laws in India prevented the local police and paramedics from smashing their way into Mr Rowland’s flat and saving his life, the inquest was told.
Instead he slowly bled to death in front of Miss Zalinski’s eyes on the internet video service as she begged with him to get the help he needed.
Miss Zalinski, 45, of Reading, told how the tragedy unfolded on the morning of November 27 last year, after she managed to contact Mr Rowland, 53, over the internet.
‘He was just in a complete state,’ she said. ‘He was sweating profusely and his eyes were just star- ing. ‘ He kept saying, “they are going to get me, they are going to get me”.’
She told the inquest in Oxford how she tried to calm him down but he became more agitated after suffering what the coroner described as a ‘ major mental crisis’.
‘He said there were people in the room that weren’t there,’ Miss Zalinski added. ‘I just kept reassuring him that nobody was there and that I was here for him.
‘I told him that I wasn’t going to leave him and would get help to him.’
A friend of Miss Zalinski’s arrived at her home and with her help Mr Rowland initially appeared to calm down.
‘He then just started to drift to another place again and just got up,’ Miss Zalinski said.
‘He started bashing everything around in his flat. He walked into the kitchen, grabbed a glass and smashed it on the table – then stuck it straight into his neck.
‘At that point myself and my friend just looked at one another and ran from the bedroom where the computer was and didn’t say anything to one another. We couldn’t believe what we had just seen.’
Mr Rowland, who was previously employed as a manager at the Formula One racing firm Jordan Grand Prix, had gone to India three weeks
‘He really missed his boys’
earlier as a self-employed consultant in the motor industry.
She told how he was emotional when he left but that he was going out there to build a future for them back in the UK.
‘He was very well thought of out there and was well looked after,’ she said.
Miss Zalinski said. ‘But he really missed his boys and didn’t like being away from the UK and me.’
Recording a narrative verdict, Oxfordshire coroner Nicholas Gardiner said: ‘I am quite satisfied that Mr Rowland injured himself and died as a result of those injuries,
‘But he was clearly going through a major mental crisis and I cannot go any further than that.’