HOSPITAL BED BROUGHT TO COURT SO SICK MAN CAN FACE MURDER TRIAL
Paul Cheston
Evening Stanard online
19th march , 2012.
In what is believed to be the first time such arrangements have been made, Sergei Zolotovsky was brought to court in an ambulance and wheeled into the room on a trolley before being lifted into the hospital bed, which was put in place on Friday.
The bed was positioned in front of the dock, facing the judge and barristers and only feet away from the jury box. The court was cleared as Zolotovsky was moved from the trolley to the bed.
Judge Stephen Kramer QC was due to tell the jury about the circumstances before the trial, expected to begin today.
Latvian plumber Zolotovsky, 44, is accused of killing his estranged wife and his mother-in-law in August last year. He is alleged to have stabbed 40-year-old Svetlana at a bus stop in Beckton before going back to the family home and killing Antonia Belska.
Ms Belska’s body was discovered by firefighters called to the semi-detached house when neighbours spotted flames.
Zolotovsky is said to have been found by police in the loft at the house, having apparently tried to cut his own throat.
He underwent emergency surgery and recovered but then suffered further injuries which led to him becoming bedridden.
Zolotovsky, of Edmonton Green, has pleaded not guilty to two charges of murder.
He lay propped up in the bed today, fully clothed and wearing black with a white shirt, his arms folded across his chest. Asked to confirm his name by the court clerk, he replied: “Yes.”
Svetlana Zolotovsky worked as a pharmacy technician in the private Wellington Hospital in St John’s Wood.
Preparations for the historic case began when cleaners were brought in last week to make the 50-year-old courtroom as hygienic as possible.
Court 16 was chosen as the biggest and most accessible courtroom in the more modern half of the Old Bailey building.
The trial of three men accused of shooting five-year-old Thusha Kamaleswaran, who was left paralysed as the innocent victim of alleged gang warfare in Stockwell in March last year, was moved next door to accommodate the Zolotovsky case.
The ambulance bringing Zolotovsky to court arrived at the judge’s entrance in Warwick Square, which is located away from the public entrance to the courts complex.
The case continues.
The bed was positioned in front of the dock, facing the judge and barristers and only feet away from the jury box. The court was cleared as Zolotovsky was moved from the trolley to the bed.
Judge Stephen Kramer QC was due to tell the jury about the circumstances before the trial, expected to begin today.
Latvian plumber Zolotovsky, 44, is accused of killing his estranged wife and his mother-in-law in August last year. He is alleged to have stabbed 40-year-old Svetlana at a bus stop in Beckton before going back to the family home and killing Antonia Belska.
Ms Belska’s body was discovered by firefighters called to the semi-detached house when neighbours spotted flames.
Zolotovsky is said to have been found by police in the loft at the house, having apparently tried to cut his own throat.
He underwent emergency surgery and recovered but then suffered further injuries which led to him becoming bedridden.
Zolotovsky, of Edmonton Green, has pleaded not guilty to two charges of murder.
He lay propped up in the bed today, fully clothed and wearing black with a white shirt, his arms folded across his chest. Asked to confirm his name by the court clerk, he replied: “Yes.”
Svetlana Zolotovsky worked as a pharmacy technician in the private Wellington Hospital in St John’s Wood.
Preparations for the historic case began when cleaners were brought in last week to make the 50-year-old courtroom as hygienic as possible.
Court 16 was chosen as the biggest and most accessible courtroom in the more modern half of the Old Bailey building.
The trial of three men accused of shooting five-year-old Thusha Kamaleswaran, who was left paralysed as the innocent victim of alleged gang warfare in Stockwell in March last year, was moved next door to accommodate the Zolotovsky case.
The ambulance bringing Zolotovsky to court arrived at the judge’s entrance in Warwick Square, which is located away from the public entrance to the courts complex.
The case continues.
No comments:
Post a Comment