Court hears tragic Ben died seconds after attack : Cleaning News

Court hears tragic Ben died seconds after attack

A 24-YEAR-OLD man on trial for murdering teenager Ben Lund in a jealous rage has admitted manslaughter but claimed he never intended to cause Ben serious injury.

Former Ratton School pupil Nicholas Sitko, of Mendip Avenue, is standing trial at Lewes Crown Court because he is alleged to have 'severely battered' the 19-year-old window cleaner at the Funktion Rooms nightclub last summer.

He took to the stand yesterday morning (Thursday) and became tearful when questioned.
Sitko admitted lying about the details of the incident to police, but said he had lied because he was 'scared'.
Ben Lund died in the early hours of July 11, 2009, in the basement of the once popular and busy Pevensey Road nightspot, known as the Sub Club.

Prosecutor Charles Miskin QC described Sitko, a machine operator in a factory, as an obsessively jealous body builder.

Mr Miskin said he had punched and headbutted Ben to the floor because he was talking to his long-standing girlfriend Sarah Sharpe.

Witnesses said they saw the defendant throwing punches at Ben while he was down on the floor. Dr Robert Chapman, the forensic pathologist who carried out the post-mortem examination, explained Ben had suffered seven separate impacts to the head and neck which were consistent with punches or kicks.

He said he believed that it was the impacts around the sides of Ben's neck which had caused the fatal brain haemorrhage. Dr Chapman described the bleed as a traumatic brain injury.

Mr Miskin said Ben died seconds after the incident and was lying in a pool of blood. Sitko, Sarah Sharpe and her friend are said to have left the Funktion Rooms immediately after the alleged attack. Sitko went to other bars and nightclubs in the town before being arrested in Cavendish Place.

Mr Miskin said, ‘Ben Lund died because he was so severely battered around the head and neck he developed a major haemorrhage in the base of his brain which killed him.

‘His killer was the defendant and the crime was committed because Sitko, a strongly-made man who had been drinking, thought Ben Lund was chatting up his girlfriend.’

He told the court Sitko had lost his self-control in the Sub Club at the Funktion Rooms and had 'been driven by a berserk desire to injure Ben Lund'.

In police interview Sitko described the incident as a 'mutual fight' and 'a scuffle'. He also told officers that Ben was fighting back and throwing punches too.

The police interviews, in which Sitko changes his story a number of times, were read to the jury and Sitko told officers, ‘It was a tragic, tragic accident. I never went out to kill anyone.’

Mr Miskin said Ben Lund was attractive, fit and good looking and said that his former girlfriend had described him as a 'complete gentleman' who was liked by everyone.

Sitko denies murder and the case continues.

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