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At one point, Dereck Szaflarski was walking down Richmond Street with two friends as he celebrated his 27th birthday.
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Within minutes, London’s personal trainer was lying on his back on a sidewalk, dying of stabbing after a brief skirmish with a driver who was upset with the trio for crossing the street. Two women who saw it all happen testified Tuesday in the jury trial of Robert Ashley Williams, 39, who pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in Saflarski’s death. Krystle Pereira and Shawna Oag were returning to Pereira’s car with Szaflarski on May 26, 2018, at the closing time of the bar, when those few moments became deadly. Both women were shocked by what happened. Pereira, 32, who had met Saflarski a few hours earlier, remembered the knife in more detail. He told jurors he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after Szaflarski’s death.
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Oag, 28, who considered herself Szaflarski’s girlfriend, was quiet and closed during questioning by assistant lawyer James Spangenberg. He had trouble remembering key facts. About 10 minutes after her time in the witness box, she lost some of her composure. What was clear from their testimonies was that there was no sign in the hours they spent with Szaflarski before they stabbed him that there would be an outbreak of violence. Pereira testified that she and Oag went out at about 10:00 pm on May 25 at Molly Bloom’s, the popular pub in Richmond Row. As she sat at a table, Pereira said she saw Szaflarski and told Oag “someone who was very hot” had entered the bar. Oag told Pereira that she knew him. Szaflarski came and told the women that he was out to celebrate his birthday from about 2 in the afternoon at a bar and a house party. He had left the party for the pub and none of his friends followed him there.
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Pereira said Safarski “looked like he had a good buzz.” Szaflarski stayed with the women and bought their food and drink, Pereira said. The three of them walked south to Wink’s, another bar, where they stayed until closing. Pereira said they planned to leave Oag and Saflarski at Oag’s house. The trio climbed the west sidewalk of Richmond. A watch video by Molly Bloom’s and another business captured the scene, with Pereira walking forward and Oag and Szaflarski together, each with one arm around the other. Pereira’s car was parked on Piccadilly Street. The three of them decided to cross the busy Richmond Street at that intersection instead of walking north to the traffic lights on Oxford Street.
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“I thought I had enough time to cross the road,” said Pereira, who was the first to hit the road, but a car ran towards her. She testified that as she passed a white car, Williams shouted something “derogatory” at her through his open window. “I think Derek said something to ‘just keep driving,’” he said. Williams stopped the car and went out onto the west sidewalk. Pereira was already on the east sidewalk, while Oag and Saflarski were still on the road. Williams was in a “standstill” and went crazy as if he wanted to fight. Pereira said she could see something in Williams’ left hand. Oag tried to pull Szaflarski to the east sidewalk, Pereira said during a confrontation with defense attorney Chris Uwagboe. Szaflarski turned and attacked Williams, hitting the front of the shop window.
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“Everything happened so fast,” he said. The videos showed Williams wearing a black shirt before the match and then without a shirt with his shirt in his hand after the match. Pereira told Wagboe that she did not see Williams’ shirt come out and only heard “choked sounds”. Szaflarski walked behind Richmond towards the women, made his shirt and then collapsed. Blood was running from inside him, Pereira said. He called 911 while Oag tried to put pressure on Szaflarski’s wound. Szaflarski was rushed to hospital by ambulance. An hour later, the women were informed that he had died. Oag testified that nothing unusual happened while the three of them were together in the bars. She recalled that she “felt scared” when the fight was about to start. He told the jury that he saw a weapon “vaguely”. “It simply came to our notice then. “Before I knew it, it was over,” he said. Oag remembered Szaflarski walking across the street after a brief battle. There was blood on the ground and he was walking a bit slow. “He collapsed and I tried to help him. . . . There was nothing that I could do about it. “ Oag is expected to be examined on Wednesday. [email protected] twitter.com/JaneatLFPress
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