WILMINGTON, Del. -- Irina Malinovskaya admitted to lying about her whereabouts on the day she is accused of killing a Temple University pharmacology student during testimony presented at her trial yesterday.
The Wharton undergraduate is accused of the first-degree murder of Irina Zlotnikov, the girlfriend of her former boyfriend, Robert Bondar, at his Delaware apartment on Dec. 23, 2004.
Prosecutors for the State of Delaware showed a three-hour video interview before resting their case yesterday.
The video showed Detective Joe Szczerba questioning Malinovskaya after she had agreed to be driven to the New Castle County Police Department from her Philadelphia apartment seven days after the murder.
The prosecution also questioned Detective Szczerba about his interactions with the defendant and played a recording of a phone conversation that preceded her questioning.
Malinovskaya initially told Szczerba that she had not been to Bondar's apartment in over a month before the time of the murder.
Szczerba then told her that witnesses had placed her at the scene, and she admitted to having been there shortly thereafter.
"I can tell you why I didn't tell you I went there," Malinovskaya said in the video. "I didn't want [my current boyfriend] to know."
Malinovskaya described her boyfriend in the video, saying that their relationship had become more serious after she had met his parents and that she would probably marry him.
Despite her admission that she was outside Bondar's apartment the day of the murder and the night before, Malinovskaya insisted she never went inside and denied that she had killed Zlotnikov during Szczerba's questioning.
She did say that she wanted to get inside the apartment and attempted to unlock the door.
"I tried all of [my keys] for luck," Malinovskaya said, pulling her keys out of a bag and holding them up. "These keys don't fit."
Malinovskaya said she left soon afterward.
Szczerba also questioned her about her relationship with Bondar, which began in June 2003.
"We didn't consider each other to be permanent boyfriend-girlfriend," Malinovskaya said.
She could not say when the relationship ended, but added she tried to remain friends with him even when they weren't romantically involved.
She also answered Szczerba's questions about Bondar's marijuana use, saying that he had once described himself as an addict and that she knew he had friends who were addicted to heroin.
Before the trial, the defense tried to prevent the use of her testimony on the grounds that Malinovskaya had not understood her legal rights during the interrogation. After this effort was only partially successful, defense lawyers decided to allow the use of the entire tape.
The parents of both Malinovskaya and Zlotnikov were present at the trial and sat on opposite sides of the room.
