A 51-year-old who appeared in court accused of a “frenzied and brutal” murder by stabbing a man seven times in the neck and back in a house in Portadown told police: “He came at me with a knife, I was defending myself”.
Ruslanas Kovalkovas, with an address of Ranfurley Road, Portadown, appeared before District Judge Rosie Watters at Lisburn Magistrates’ Court on Monday afternoon accused of murdering 49-year-old Rolandas Kvederis at a property on the Ranfurley Road last Thursday night (March 26).
Outlining the details, the prosecutor told the court that shortly after 11pm police received a 999 call from the daughter of a third man in the property – a first-floor flat. He had phoned and told her to call the police to report that the two men he lived with had been fighting and that one of them – Mr Kvederis – was dead.
Police and ambulance crews attended the scene and confirmed that Mr Kvederis was discovered dead, lying on his right side on the landing at the top of the stairs. There was a large pool of blood underneath him and initial observations suggested he had been stabbed.
Inside the property, officers found a knife beside the sink with apparent blood on it, and a smaller knife on the kitchen table.
At 11.21pm, Kovalkovas was arrested on suspicion of murder. He made no reply to caution but later made an unsolicited comment similar to: “He came at me with a knife. I was defending myself.”
Detective Sergeant Claire Campbell, objecting to bail, outlined the state of the investigation and the post-mortem findings. which confirmed the cause of death to be stab wounds to the neck and lower back – seven in total.
Particular emphasis was placed on three wounds to the neck: one in the centre which struck the jugular vein, one to the right which damaged the larynx, and one to the back. The tip of a knife was discovered embedded in a bone in the neck.
The court heard that the deceased had no defensive injuries, while the defendant had some scuffs, bruises and a few cuts.
Police have established that the flat is in Mr Kvederis’s name; however, he had not been residing there for almost a year as he had been bailed to a different address. During that period, Kovalkovas had been sub-letting the flat, the DS told the court.
She said Mr Kvederis had recently returned to his flat and asked the defendant to leave. It is unclear at this stage whether Kovalkovas was refusing to leave or whether he had simply asked for more time.
Kovalkovas denied intending to kill Mr Kvederis and has put forward a case of self-defence. He described previous disagreements with the deceased over food missing from the fridge and rent money owed.
Setting out his account of the night of the incident, police said Kovalkovas claimed that Mr Kvederis had invited a friend to the flat and that both men were drinking and “were very drunk”.
Kovalkovas was in his own room but said he could hear them shouting, talking about him and saying “that he had to go”.
When he left his room to go to the kitchen, Mr Kvederis and his friend allegedly came out and started verbally abusing and threatening him. The pair then left to go to the friend’s car, but Mr Kvederis soon returned, allegedly calling the defendant names, telling him to leave and to “eat outside”. Kovalkovas refused to go.
While in the kitchen near the cooker, Mr Kvederis allegedly picked up a small knife with a black handle from a cutlery drawer and began poking Kovalkovas with it. The defendant claimed he received three sharp blows to his left forearm as he tried to protect himself and shouted to the other occupant of the flat: “I’m being killed.”
He said he grabbed the knife from Mr Kvederis and made an “automatic movement” three times up into his throat. On the third strike, the knife broke.
According to his account, Mr Kvederis then grabbed a larger knife, possibly around 15cm long, and again started attacking him. Kovalkovas told police he had his back to the corridor as they wrestled for control of the knife.
He claimed that Mr Kvederis then released one of his hands from the weapon and that he, the defendant, grabbed Mr Kvederis’s hand. He told officers he did not know exactly how, but that he turned the knife and “gave Mr Kvederis a blow on the side”, adding: “I didn’t want to do this, but it was automatic. I had no choice. Maybe I’d be dead otherwise.”
Kovalkovas said Mr Kvederis came after him as he retreated out of the kitchen, before collapsing in the hallway. He told police he then went to his room and tried to barricade the door using a walking cane, and it was at that point that police arrived.
Objecting to bail, DS Campbell told the court that not all witnesses had been spoken to at this early stage, and that some of those witnesses – given the nature of the local community – were known to the defendant. She also highlighted a number of previous offences in France and Lithuania “both aggravated by violence and also violence being the main offence”.
Defence counsel argued that Kovalkovas had engaged fully with the investigation, answering every question and giving a detailed account. He had provided names of people who attended the home, his phone had been seized and he had granted police access to it.
Counsel also highlighted the defendant’s unsolicited comment at the time of arrest – “He came at me with a knife. I was defending myself” – as being consistent with the self-defence case put forward in interview.
They further pointed to the presence of a third man in the property, whose call to his daughter sparked the 999 report. The daughter told police there had been fighting in the house between the two men and that one was dead.
Summarising the defence position, counsel said the case being advanced was: “It was me or him. I’m sorry to put it in those terms if any of the deceased’s family or friends are present, but it really was his case, it was me or it was him.”
Refusing bail, District Judge Watters told the court: “This is a case where I can’t consider bail. First of all, he has no address to get the application off the ground, and I think that’s essential in a case as serious as this.
“And in addition to that, I would be concerned about the commission of further offences. I would also be concerned, regardless of this objection on grounds of obstruction, about him not turning up for his trial as well. Because, I mean, if he is convicted of this offence, he will serve a life sentence, and he’s not a native of this jurisdiction.”
The case was adjourned until April 24 at Craigavon Magistrates’ Court, where Kovalkovas is due to appear via videolink.
