Man ‘walking on M40’ killed partner ‘with tape’, jury told

Norbert Maiksner, who is Polish, is on trial at Portsmouth Crown Court accused of the murder of 45-year-old Frances Obiefuleh at their home in Havant, Hampshire.

The defendant also faces a charge of child cruelty by leaving the child alone in the house.

Paul Cavin KC, prosecuting, told the jury that the defendant was found by a Highways Officer walking along the hard shoulder of the motorway near High Wycombe on the morning of April 17 last year.

He told the officer that they should call the police because he had killed his girlfriend and they would need to check for a child that was still in the house, the court heard.

Mr Cavin said police were sent to the couple’s home in Timsbury Crescent, where the child was found inside.

The officer asked the child to open the door, but they were not able to and the youngster said that Ms Obiefuleh was sleeping and they could not wake her.

After the police smashed a window to enter the house, they found the body of Ms Obiefuleh.

Mr Cavin said: “Her body was found in the lounge doorway with blue tape wrapped around her head covering her nose and mouth.”

He said that a post-mortem examination revealed she died of smothering, with injuries caused by compression of the neck and chest.

Mr Cavin said that the defendant also had scratches to his chest and back, and added: “The likely and frankly terrible conclusion is that they were inflicted by Frances with her fingers and fingernails during the attack by the defendant in her last moments as she struggled to stay alive.”

He explained that the child cruelty charge related to leaving the child “alone and asleep in bed only to awake” and find Ms Obiefuleh dead.

Mr Cavin said that a neighbour reported hearing a “horrendous bang” coming from the house at about 10pm the previous evening which sounded like “a wardrobe being thrown down the stairs” which caused three or four bangs which were “loud and shook the ceiling”.

The prosecutor said that Ms Obiefuleh had recently met another man through a dating app who she had told that she had split from the defendant because he had been “verbally abusive” towards her, but they were still living in the same house.

He added that the pair had been chatting by phone on the evening before Ms Obiefuleh died, and the man had described her as “very normal on the phone”.

The judge, Mr Justice Murray, told the jury that the defendant had declined to attend court for his trial.

He said: “The defendant has decided not to take the prison transport to attend this trial, he cannot be forced to do so.

“There is no question of his medical or mental fitness to attend, I am satisfied his failure to attend is voluntary. The fact he has chosen not to attend the trial is not proof of his guilt so do not hold it against him.”

The trial continues.