A woman who was buried alive in a cardboard box today told a jury how she used her engagement ring to free herself.
Michelina Lewandowska, 27, told Leeds Crown Court that she prayed to God as she struggled to release herself after allegedly being placed in the box by her partner.
Marcin Kasprzak, 25, with whom she has a three-year-old son, is on trial with another man Patryk Borys, 18. Both are charged with attempted murder.
The court was told how Ms Lewandowska was placed in the boot of a car by the two men and driven to a wooded area near Huddersfield where the box was buried in a shallow grave with a tree branch placed on top.
However she managed to escape and flagged down a passing motorist.
Miss Lewandowska, who spoke through an interpreter, said: ‘I thought about my ring, that I could take it off my finger and try to cut through the tape with it.
‘I cut the tape from my legs with this ring. I put the ring back on my finger then I put my whole hand through the opening.’
She told the court she then started to ‘tear the box apart’ as she struggled to break free.
‘I was trying to estimate how much soil was on the box and I think it was 10cm. It could have been more.
‘I managed to tear a little apart from this little opening. Then I thought the next thing is to cut the tape because there was no other way to get out.
‘I put the tape from my face onto my legs and I started to tear the box apart.
‘I was focusing on the hole I had just made. I took my head out from the box through the hole and at that point the soil was getting in.’
She described how she was exhausted and said to herself ‘my God, tell me what now?’
She called for help. ‘I thought it won’t be easy but I have to get out. I have to get to the street.
‘I was very angry, I was struggling with the box. It was not easy.
‘I managed to get half of my body out. I was lying on the ground. I was talking to myself, keep going.’
The court was told she could hear music from a nearby pub and as she stumbled down to the road she stopped a passing motorist who took her home and raised the alarm.
Earlier Ms Lewandowska told how she was allegedly attacked with a Taser and bound and gagged by her partner, who told her he hated her.
She told the court she feared she was going to pass out as she was attacked with the 300,000-volt stun gun in the home she shared with fellow Pole Marcin Kasprzak.
Speaking from behind a screen, Miss Lewandowska told the jury she was grabbed by her partner as she came out of the bathroom and forced to the floor on May 28 this year.
She said she thought all three of them were going shopping but instead found herself on the floor with hands holding her down by her neck.
She described a sensation of being ‘kicked’ as the Taser was applied to her neck.
Speaking through a Polish interpreter she said: ‘I was trying to push him away. He was using this Taser. He managed to turn me over on to my side, onto my right side.
‘He knelt down, he pressed my ribs with his knee and continued to use the Taser.’
She said she feared she would lose consciousness and would not be able to remember the attack.
She added: ‘I think it lasted between five to 10 minutes. He said not to be afraid, that everything will be all right.’
She said Borys assisted in restraining her legs with tape, which was also applied to her wrists and mouth.
Asked if she could move, she replied: ‘It was not easy as I was tied up. The only thing I could move was my head, which was also tied up with the tape.’
It was only later when she was moved to a different part of the house in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, that she desperately indicated to Kasprzak to remove the tape around her mouth as she found it difficult to breath through her nose, the court heard.
She said: ‘He took it off for a short time and again he said not to be afraid and that nothing would happen to me.’
She described how her partner then knelt down and said he had ‘hated me for four years’.
She also told how her partner mentioned a ‘secret house’ and how she was not going to see him or her son again.
The witness described how her hands started turning blue during her ordeal.
‘I was sitting there for one, two, maybe three hours, all the time thinking why his family is not there?
Why his mother is not around to see what her son is doing?’
She described how she was placed in a cardboard box, adding: ‘He said to me to lie down as he needed to close it and stick the box up.’
Yesterday, Jonathan Sharp prosecuting said: ‘In a nutshell, this case is about a young man who got bored with his partner, the mother of his child, and he decided to get rid of her.’
The court was told Kasprzak thought she was not as pretty as girls he saw at the gym and was ‘bored’ with her.
It heard she was put in the boot of a car, driven to a wooded area and buried in a ‘shallow grave’.
Kasprzak and Borys then allegedly used shovels to pile soil on the old computer box – which had just two air holes and was just 22ins deep – and then put a tree branch weighing more than six stone on top of it.
She would probably have been curled up inside with her knees tucked up towards her chin, they were told.
Fearing the consequences of crying out, Miss Lewandowska kept quiet throughout the ordeal and as far as the men were concerned she could have been unconscious, the jury was told.
They ‘simply left her there’ and drove to a supermarket cash-point where they used her bank cards to withdraw £500 of her money.
Over the next hour their victim, ‘with great difficulty’, managed to get out of the box and escape from the makeshift grave.
She stumbled to a nearby road and raised the alarm by flagging down a motorist.
The court heard that Miss Lewandowska and Kasprzak – who met six years ago in their native Poland before moving to work in England – have a three-year-old son, Jakub.
He would go out with friends, sometimes staying out all night, rather than spending time with her.
He allegedly wanted her removed from the scene so he could look after Jakub without her and pursue a relationship with another girlfriend.
The court was also told that Kasprzak had changed his Facebook status to ‘single’ about two weeks before the attack and developed a plan of killing his partner, recruiting Borys to help.
Kasprzak and Borys, both from Huddersfield, both deny attempted murder this year.
The case continues.
Michelina Lewandowska, 27, told Leeds Crown Court that she prayed to God as she struggled to release herself after allegedly being placed in the box by her partner.
Marcin Kasprzak, 25, with whom she has a three-year-old son, is on trial with another man Patryk Borys, 18. Both are charged with attempted murder.
The court was told how Ms Lewandowska was placed in the boot of a car by the two men and driven to a wooded area near Huddersfield where the box was buried in a shallow grave with a tree branch placed on top.
However she managed to escape and flagged down a passing motorist.
Miss Lewandowska, who spoke through an interpreter, said: ‘I thought about my ring, that I could take it off my finger and try to cut through the tape with it.
‘I cut the tape from my legs with this ring. I put the ring back on my finger then I put my whole hand through the opening.’
She told the court she then started to ‘tear the box apart’ as she struggled to break free.
‘I was trying to estimate how much soil was on the box and I think it was 10cm. It could have been more.
‘I managed to tear a little apart from this little opening. Then I thought the next thing is to cut the tape because there was no other way to get out.
‘I put the tape from my face onto my legs and I started to tear the box apart.
‘I was focusing on the hole I had just made. I took my head out from the box through the hole and at that point the soil was getting in.’
She described how she was exhausted and said to herself ‘my God, tell me what now?’
She called for help. ‘I thought it won’t be easy but I have to get out. I have to get to the street.
‘I was very angry, I was struggling with the box. It was not easy.
‘I managed to get half of my body out. I was lying on the ground. I was talking to myself, keep going.’
The court was told she could hear music from a nearby pub and as she stumbled down to the road she stopped a passing motorist who took her home and raised the alarm.
Earlier Ms Lewandowska told how she was allegedly attacked with a Taser and bound and gagged by her partner, who told her he hated her.
She told the court she feared she was going to pass out as she was attacked with the 300,000-volt stun gun in the home she shared with fellow Pole Marcin Kasprzak.
Speaking from behind a screen, Miss Lewandowska told the jury she was grabbed by her partner as she came out of the bathroom and forced to the floor on May 28 this year.
She said she thought all three of them were going shopping but instead found herself on the floor with hands holding her down by her neck.
She described a sensation of being ‘kicked’ as the Taser was applied to her neck.
Speaking through a Polish interpreter she said: ‘I was trying to push him away. He was using this Taser. He managed to turn me over on to my side, onto my right side.
‘He knelt down, he pressed my ribs with his knee and continued to use the Taser.’
She said she feared she would lose consciousness and would not be able to remember the attack.
She added: ‘I think it lasted between five to 10 minutes. He said not to be afraid, that everything will be all right.’
She said Borys assisted in restraining her legs with tape, which was also applied to her wrists and mouth.
Asked if she could move, she replied: ‘It was not easy as I was tied up. The only thing I could move was my head, which was also tied up with the tape.’
It was only later when she was moved to a different part of the house in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, that she desperately indicated to Kasprzak to remove the tape around her mouth as she found it difficult to breath through her nose, the court heard.
She said: ‘He took it off for a short time and again he said not to be afraid and that nothing would happen to me.’
She described how her partner then knelt down and said he had ‘hated me for four years’.
She also told how her partner mentioned a ‘secret house’ and how she was not going to see him or her son again.
The witness described how her hands started turning blue during her ordeal.
‘I was sitting there for one, two, maybe three hours, all the time thinking why his family is not there?
Why his mother is not around to see what her son is doing?’
She described how she was placed in a cardboard box, adding: ‘He said to me to lie down as he needed to close it and stick the box up.’
Yesterday, Jonathan Sharp prosecuting said: ‘In a nutshell, this case is about a young man who got bored with his partner, the mother of his child, and he decided to get rid of her.’
The court was told Kasprzak thought she was not as pretty as girls he saw at the gym and was ‘bored’ with her.
It heard she was put in the boot of a car, driven to a wooded area and buried in a ‘shallow grave’.
Kasprzak and Borys then allegedly used shovels to pile soil on the old computer box – which had just two air holes and was just 22ins deep – and then put a tree branch weighing more than six stone on top of it.
She would probably have been curled up inside with her knees tucked up towards her chin, they were told.
Fearing the consequences of crying out, Miss Lewandowska kept quiet throughout the ordeal and as far as the men were concerned she could have been unconscious, the jury was told.
They ‘simply left her there’ and drove to a supermarket cash-point where they used her bank cards to withdraw £500 of her money.
Over the next hour their victim, ‘with great difficulty’, managed to get out of the box and escape from the makeshift grave.
She stumbled to a nearby road and raised the alarm by flagging down a motorist.
The court heard that Miss Lewandowska and Kasprzak – who met six years ago in their native Poland before moving to work in England – have a three-year-old son, Jakub.
He would go out with friends, sometimes staying out all night, rather than spending time with her.
He allegedly wanted her removed from the scene so he could look after Jakub without her and pursue a relationship with another girlfriend.
The court was also told that Kasprzak had changed his Facebook status to ‘single’ about two weeks before the attack and developed a plan of killing his partner, recruiting Borys to help.
Kasprzak and Borys, both from Huddersfield, both deny attempted murder this year.
The case continues.
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