The trial of a woman who denies murdering her partner by plunging a knife into his chest has begun. Joanna Katarzyna Wronska, 52, of Pentre Gwyn, Wrexham has pleaded not guilty to killing Marcin Koziol.
Wronksa is accused of stabbing Mr Koziol, 40, at a flat in Pentre Gwyn, and then washing the knife in a sink.
Mold Crown Court heard a former partner of Wronska, Januse Zdunek claimed she stabbed him several years ago and allegedly told him he was "lucky she hadn't stabbed him in his heart."
Prosecutor Andrew Thomas KC said emergency crews were called to Wronksa's home in Pentre Gwyn, on the Caia Park, Wrexham on October 23, 2023 at about 6.15pm. The defendant had made a 999 call claiming her partner had "injured himself with a knife".
Police arrived at their first floor flat and found Mr Koziol naked and bleeding on the bed. He died from a single stab wound, with the knife having pierced his left upper chest for 15cms, at 7.15pm.
The court heard it had cut into his heart and penetrated his left lung, meaning he suffered a massive sudden blood loss from which he died.
Mr Thomas said this case has "all the hallmarks of the tragic consequences of a drunken argument". Police found a large "freshly washed" 20cms long knife in the kitchen sink with dimensions consistent with the wound.
Mr Thomas said: "The single issue is 'Did she do it?'... If she did stab Mr Koziol this was murder and nothing less."
The court heard that by October 2023 the couple - Wronska and Mr Koziol - had been living a "chaotic" lifestyle and living off state benefits. They had a volatile relationship and both had been barred from the Premier Shop on Abenbury Road for drunkenness and shoplifting.
A friend, Piotr Kielar, Wronska's daughter Anastasja and her boyfriend Ardian were all facing deportation. On October 23, Mr Kielar went to Wronska's flat. Wronska and Mr Koziol were both drunk and naked.
They dressed and they all went to a shop so their friend could buy alcohol and all returned to the flat. CCTV shows Mr Kielar returning to the shop for a second time to buy vodka.
They allegedly went back to the flat and Mr Kielar claims he saw a large knife in the living room. Mr Kielar left.
Some 43 minutes later Wronska rang 999. She said her partner had "taken a knife". She said to the operator, in a recording played to the jury: "My partner dead...please help me now." She then said "Marcin, Marcin, Marcin" over and over again then she said "gone". She may have meant he had fallen unconscious, said the prosecutor..
Police arrived and saw her socks "were contaminated with blood", Mr Thomas said. The knife was in the kitchen sink - wet 20cms (or six or seven inches long) and 2.5cms wide, the court heard.
Home Office forensic pathologist Dr Brian Rodgers found this knife was "consistent with the one used to inflict the fatal wound". She had cleaned it potentially in the kitchen or bathroom, the prosecution said.
Wronska told police Mr Kielar left and she then heard a "hissing noise" and went into the bedroom thinking Mr Koziol was "snoring".
She said she saw him "sitting on bed and I saw he was bleeding". But the court heard GPS tag showed Mr Kielar left the flat at 5.30pm and spent the night at a probation hostel in Ruabon.
The prosecution case is that Wronska, who moved to Wrexham from Poland in 2013, was the only other person in the flat at the time of the stabbing.
Dr Rodgers said he couldn't rule out the wound was self-inflicted. But right-handed Mr Koziol, who was six ft two inches tall and weighed almost 18 stones, would have had to hold the knife and reach across himself to stab forcefully down on his left upper chest.
It was also "highly unusual" to sever your own ribs when stabbing yourself, Dr Rodgers said.
Mr Thomas said: "Her actions, in removing the knife and washing, strongly suggest she stabbed Mr Koziol and tried to hide the evidence of her involvement".
Wronska denies murder. The trial, which is expected to last a fortnight, continues.
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