Sheffield Crown Court: Reveller denies murdering man who suffered severe injuries after alleged 'fight'

Sheffield Crown Court has heard during an on-going trial how Steven Ling, aged 38, of Park Drain, Westwoodside, Doncaster, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Mateusz Chojnowski after he was found badly injured behind The Salutation Inn, on South Parade, near Doncaster city centre.

Prosecuting barrister Richard Thyne KC said Mr Ling claims to have seen Mr Chojnowski in the defendant’s parked Audi SQ7 car at the back of the pub in the early hours of July 2, from where he had allegedly stolen money before they became involved in a fight. Mr Ling also claims he had not intended to cause Mr Chojnowski any serious harm, according to Mr Thyne.

Mr Thyne added: “South Yorkshire Police received a 999 call from a member of the public reporting that a badly injured man had been found behind The Salutation Inn, on South Parade, in Doncaster.

“Police officers attended at the scene, followed by paramedics. The injured man was already in cardiac arrest. He was transferred to Doncaster Royal Infirmary, and sustained efforts were made to resuscitate him. Unfortunately, such efforts did not succeed. He was formally declared dead at 05:12 hours.”

Mr Ling who handed himself into police through his solicitor told officers he had found Mr Chojnowski in his car and when he realised he had allegedly stolen money they got involved in a fight and if he had known Mr Chojnowski had been seriously injured he would have taken him to hospital.

But Mr Thyne said: “The prosecution say that the horrifying nature and extent of the injuries sustained by the deceased, together with the parts of the incident that were caught on CCTV, tell a very different story. The deceased, who was identified as a 28-year old Polish man named Mateusz Chojnowski, had been subjected to a brutal and sustained assault involving severe force.”

The court heard the defendant, who stated he had left £1,000 in his car and that he had been drunk, accepts he unlawfully assaulted the deceased, but he claims he did not intend to cause really serious harm and his actions amounted to manslaughter, but not murder.

Mr Thyne told the jury Mr Ling had gone out that evening with two friends and they left the Salutation Inn after midnight and went to the Guest Steakhouse and Lounge until 2.30am and Mr Ling went back to his car and his friends caught a taxi.

The court heard Mr Ling was captured on CCTV near The Salutation Inn at 3.02am and later on another camera, and Mr Chojnowski ended up on the ground before the men moved to a substation wall and the defendant allegedly delivered punches, kicks and or stamps until they both moved out of camera shot.

Mr Thyne said the defendant reappears on CCTV without a shirt apparently talking to a passer-by before another camera shows him walking around a grassed area.

He added: “Over the course of the next 15 minutes the defendant repeatedly walks around the grass area, returns to Mr Chojnowski and, again, repeatedly assaults him.”

Mr Thyne said: “Eventually, just before 4am, the defendant approaches the figure on the ground one last time. He spends about 50 seconds bending down over him before leaving him there and walking away back towards his car. Shortly after that, at 4.01am, so almost an hour after the incident began, the defendant, having left the deceased lying on the grass, got into his car and CCTV shows it [being] driven away along South Parade.”

Two homeless people found Mr Chojnowski about 20 minutes later and one of them alerted the police, according to Mr Thyne, but Mr Chojnowski later died in hospital.

Mr Thyne added that a post mortem examination revealed Mr Chojnowski had suffered severe and widespread injuries. These included bruises, abrasions and lacerations to the head and face with facial fractures; a fractured skull and underlying bleeding on the brain; bruises to the chest, rib fracturing and collapsed lungs; severe abdominal injuries, abrasions to the elbows and a knee.

The trial continues.