West Bromwich murder trial told how victim's body was moved from stairs to pavement
A man's body was moved from the bottom of the nightclub stairs he was allegedly pushed down to the pavement outside, a murder trial heard.
Witness Mikola Syroka described to Wolverhampton Crown Court how he saw Daniel Pelechacz lying face down at the foot of a staircase at Klimat nightclub in West Bromwich.
Mr Syroka received no response when he asked security staff what had happened on September 30, 2018, the jury heard.
Krysztof Kowalski, 38, is accused of murdering Mr Pelechacz by deliberately pushing him down the stairs.
Mr Syroka had been speaking to Mr Pelechacz inside the club earlier in the night before he left Mr Syroka talking to a woman called Anna, he said.
The witness later moved to the top of the stairs on his way outside when he saw Mr Pelechacz lying at the bottom, the court was told.
"I was on the landing by the stairs at the top," he said. "He was at the bottom of the stairs. He was face down.
"I came downstairs and couldn't see any injuries.
"Some girls started asking if he was alive and has anyone phoned an ambulance."
Body moved from stairs to pavement
One of the women was on the phone to the ambulance service but was struggling to understand them so Mr Syroka took the phone and walked around the corner to speak to the operator.
When he returned he saw Mr Pelechacz had moved further away from the entrance and onto the pavement.
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Kowalski, who needs a Polish interpretor for the trial, was not working as a security guard that night but was a customer.
Prosecutors claim Kowalski,of Greets Green, West Bromwich, is now laying the blame on a friend he was at the club with.
Mr Icah Peart, defending Kowalski, said when Mr Syroka first saw Mr Pelechacz on the floor he asked the door staff nearby what was happening.
"Nobody was reacting so I went downstairs," Mr Syroka said.
Chest compressions
Meanwhile Natalia Daszewski described in a witness statement how she started doing CPR after seeing Mr Pelechacz being carried outside and realising he didn't have a pulse.
She had been standing outside with her sister and mother when she heard a "bang" "like someone had fallen down", Ms Daszewski said in a statement read out by Mr David Mason QC, prosecuting.
She then saw two people bringing a man outside, "one was holding the male from behind and one was holding his ankles", the statement said.
"My sister asked why they were taking him out and one said he was drunk and was sleeping.
"I checked his pulse and I could not find one, I couldn't see his chest moving.
"No one was helping him, he was lying there unconscious. I started to do chest compressions.
"I was doing this for about two to three minutes before I saw an ambulance.
"I was very shocked and scared of what had happened and how the bodyguards had left him there."
'You've killed a man'
In another statement, Wojciech Glowacki said he was outside when a woman started screaming and a man was lying on the ground.
He added: "I heard a woman shout towards the stairs of the club 'you've killed a man', but I couldn't see what was there."
Forensic pathologist Dr Brett Lockyer carried out a post mortem and concluded the cause of death was a traumatic head injury.
He told the jury via video link: "It is apparent from the post mortem findings that Daniel had suffered a significant traumatic head injury and is of that type which would be consistent with a heavy fall down a flight of stairs.
"There was deep bruising to the lower back which would appear to correlate with the witness account that he received a knee to the lower back but this can't be categorically confirmed pathologically and must be correlated with the police investigation.
"Bruising could be as a result of the fall itself, in other words the back may have struck a step on the way down."
Kowalski denies murder and manslaughter.
The trial continues.
