WILMINGTON, Del. - Robert Bondar, the ex-lover of accused murderess Irina Malinovskaya, took the stand yesterday, testifying that she became obsessed with him and threatened to hurt herself when he tried to end their relationship.
Malinovskaya is two days into her third trial for allegedly bludgeoning to death Bondar's then-girlfriend, Temple graduate student Irina Zlotnikov, in his Delaware apartment in December 2004.
The prosecution began its questioning of Bondar, asking him to outline his on-again, off-again relationship with Malinovskaya, as well as his relationships with Zlotnikov and his Russian ex-wife, who he officially divorced in September 2004.
Bondar and Malinovskaya met at a party in June 2003, but she went home to Russia for the summer and soon after she returned, he tried to end their relationship.
"She seemed to have fallen in love with me," Bondar said. "In her e-mails, she would get very desperate."
Bondar read aloud several e-mail correspondences between the two, including one following the break-up in which she wrote, "Robert, I feel so bad now, I just want to die."
The two continued to have occasional sex up until the spring of 2004, when Malinovskaya told Bondar that she was pregnant with his baby, and that he had given her a sexually transmitted disease.
Medical records show that Bondar did not have a STD.
"I really thought she came up with both stories just to keep me around," he said.
Bondar said he pressured Malinovskaya to have an abortion, even though she didn't want one, but she ultimately miscarried.
The prosecution did not finish its questioning of Bondar, and defense has not yet begun its cross examination. The prosecution will continue with testimony from other witnesses tomorrow before calling Bondar back to the stand.
The detective who investigated the crime scene and the medical examiner who performed Zlotnikov's autopsy also testified earlier in the day.
The expert witnesses presented the jury with a series of photographs showing Zlotnikov naked with massive trauma to the head and lacerations and abrasions across her body, including two bloody footprints on her chest.
Zlotnikov's parents left the courtroom during their testimonies.
One juror was dismissed during the lunch break yesterday due to "prior contact with News Journal articles," defense attorney Joe Hurley said, referring to the Delaware newspaper that has covered past trials.
Both sides agreed before the start of the trial that jurors would not be informed about past trials, both of which ended in hung juries.
The dismissed juror has been replaced by an alternate juror.
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