June 14, 2017 4.07 pm This story is over 88 months old

Pensioner killed disabled neighbour in vicious attack, jury hears

A pensioner killed his disabled neighbour during a sustained attack inside the victim’s home, a jury has heard. Vidmantas Svedarauskas is alleged to have beaten his victim Manfred Jaedke, 61, after the two men drank together inside Mr Jaedke’s bungalow in Porcher Way, Boston. Christopher Donnellan QC, prosecuting, told the jury at Lincoln Crown Court…

A pensioner killed his disabled neighbour during a sustained attack inside the victim’s home, a jury has heard.

Vidmantas Svedarauskas is alleged to have beaten his victim Manfred Jaedke, 61, after the two men drank together inside Mr Jaedke’s bungalow in Porcher Way, Boston.

Christopher Donnellan QC, prosecuting, told the jury at Lincoln Crown Court that Mr Jaedke, a German national, used a wheelchair after having a leg amputated.

His death in July 2016 occurred just three months after he suffered a stroke which weakened his left side.

Mr Donnellan said: “On the night of July 7-8 last year Manfred Jaedke was subjected to a sustained assault whilst in his own home. He suffered injuries from which he died.

“The person who repeatedly hit him was the defendant Vidmantas Svedarauskas who was one of his neighbours.

“The sustained attack and the vulnerability of Manfred meant that he bled easily. The combination of these blows, and repeated blows, indicate that the defendant at the time of inflicting those injuries intended at the very least to cause really serious injury or to kill.

“We may never know what sparked this episode of violence. It came at the end of an evening in which none of the neighbours had seen any trouble between the two men but we do know they had been spending the evening sharing a drink.”

Mr Donnellan added: “On any view Manfred was a vulnerable person. He kept his house very neat and had assistance from his neighbours. Manfred was not a regular drinker. He had never been seen drunk. He didn’t have any enemies.”

Mr Jaedke’s body was found inside his home when his neighbour Georgina Haw called to see him after he failed to respond to text messages.

Mr Donnellan said “She went inside and saw him lying on the floor.

“There was blood everywhere and he was clearly dead. She came out and called the emergency services.”

Paramedics who arrived at the scene believed Mr Jaedke had been dead for some hours.

The prosecutor said: “The room was a bit of a mess. Many items were strewn on the floor. The walls had blood on them.

“There was a significant amount of blood in the lounge but blood was also found in the bathroom. It was found on the hallway floor and it was found in the bedroom. It was on the bedsheets and on a jacket belonging to the defendant. That was covered in the blood of the deceased.”

Mr Donnellan told the jury that that after Mr Jaedke died his body was then moved by Svedarauskas to the position where he was found.

Svedarauskas, who lived across a grassed area from Mr Jaedke, was arrested by police. The t-shirt he was wearing had blood stains on it. His shirt and jogging bottoms were also blood-stained.

Mr Donnellan said that Svedarauskas carried out the fatal attack.

He told the jury: “No-one saw the assault. Nobody knows why it started. The precise nature of it is not known but the number of injuries he had are far too many for him to have received them accidentally.”

Vidmantas Svedarauskas, 67, of Porcher Way, Boston, denies the murder of Manfred Jaedke between July 6 and 9, 2016.

He also denies a second charge of the manslaughter of Mr Jaedke.