Frybl tells court of ongoing fights

Frybl spent more than two hours on the first day in court giving his account of his relationship with Rebecca Johnson, and the attack that killed her. He spoke clearly in court, with a noticeable Scottish lilt picked up from 18 months working in a Scottish slaughterhouse.

He claims Ms Johnson attacked him first early on the morning of Saturday December 4.

He said he does not remember clearly what happened next.

On the second day in court, Frybl described ongoing fights he said he had with Ms Johnson.

“It got physical between us on two occasions. Once in summer in Norway, and a second time roughly a month before” (she was killed), he said.

Despite calling her a “strong, determined and stubborn person”, Frybl concedes he was much stronger physically than Ms Johnson.

“Thinking practically, I could have killed her with my bare hands in a few seconds.”

When pressed by the prosecution to give details about one of the fights they had, Frybl said: “We had a really heated argument. And usually when she started screaming I took my dogs and walked away but not that time.

“I hit her and she hit me back. I slapped her. She fell and that was the end of the argument”.

Santa Safari co-worker Caitlin Howard was on the phone with Ms Johnson at the time she was attacked. This was an important witness for the prosecution, because her story helped demonstrate that Ms Johnson could not have stabbed Frybl first, if she was talking on the phone.

“She called me to tell me she was in an abusive relationship and she’d been kicked in the stomach the night before by Radek.” Caitlin then pointed to the defendant in court.

“After she told me that in the phone I heard three screams and the line went dead.”

She described Ms Johnson as sounding “scared and upset” when they talked on the phone.

The prosecution thinks those three screams were the start of Frybl’s blitz attack.

Englishman Joe Pickles, husky kennels co-worker, had spent many winters working in remote areas.

He told the court yesterday that he knew how complicated personal relationships could be in extreme conditions, and that he’d told both Ms Johnson and Frybl he wanted to keep everything strictly professional when he arrived at the husky kennels just 10 days before.

However, the court had earlier heard that an argument between Ms Johnson and Frybl the night before the killing had been sparked because she allegedly flirted with Mr Pickles.

Mr Pickles gave some of the most impactful witness statements, and stopped to cry several times.

He said he was standing just three or four metres outside Ms Johnson’s cabin when he heard her scream three times.

“I ran to the cabin and pulled open the door. I said ‘Radek stop, stop’. Becky said ‘Joe call an ambulance he’s stabbed me’.

“As I came in the room I put my head in. I saw Radek withdraw from what he was doing,” he said.

“Becky was laid down in the corner. When I entered he was essentially on top of her, leaning right over on top of Becky. And as I entered he withdrew, he stood up and that’s when she screamed to me.

“I could see already there was a lot of damage to Becky cause there was a lot of blood ... you could clearly see there was a lot of blood on the floor.”

Mr Pickles then went outside to call emergency services, and guide them to his location. He also alerted the operator to the danger he was in.

“When I returned to the cabin and saw Becky the injuries looked worse than when I first saw her,” he said.

“I couldn’t see the damage to her body but from what I could see she had been cut like this” – he made a slashing motion across his face.

“She was gone at this point. I touched her and I realised she was gone”.

“Thinking practically, I could have killed herwithmybare hands in a few seconds. KAREL FRYBL