Engineer Apologized to Sister of Girlfriend He Murdered, Court Hears

A marine engineer apologised after allegedly raping and killing his girlfriend, a court has heard.

Stephen Sexton, 39, reportedly murmured “I’m sorry” to Joanna Derkacz’s sister after she discovered her sibling’s body, jurors were told.

Arleta Derkacz said Sexton looked “petrified” and had “dead eyes” when she arrived at the Waterlooville property he shared with Joanna.

She said she pushed past Sexton and found Ms Derkacz’s body, which appeared “grey”, lying on the bed. Prosecutors allege Joanna had been strangled by her partner of three years.

Arleta also alleged that Sexton was holding a knife when he apologised as she fled the Hampshire house, shouting: “You killed my sister.”

Sexton, who has one child, is standing trial accused of murdering 37-year-old Ms Derkacz by strangling her following a year of alleged “controlling and coercive” behaviour.

The prosecution claims Sexton contacted sex workers shortly after the alleged killing because he was “aroused”.

Ms Derkacz, a recruitment consultant, was found dead at the couple’s home in Waterlooville on December 28, 2023.

Sexton denies the charges of murder, rape and controlling or coercive behaviour.

On Friday, jurors at Winchester Crown Court in Hampshire heard a recorded police interview with Arleta, Joanna’s sister.

Arleta said she went to the property after Joanna failed to answer her phone, explaining that it was unusual for her sister not to respond.

She told police: “I rang the doorbell once, no answer. The second time, no answer. The third time was really long, no answer.”

Arleta said she eventually opened the door, where Sexton came downstairs appearing “really scared”.

“I haven’t seen him for over a year because we didn’t speak and I wasn’t happy, and Joanna knew I didn’t want her to be with him,” she said.

She recalled asking, “Where is my sister?” Sexton allegedly replied that Joanna was not there, but Arleta said she could tell he was lying and noticed that he was shaking.

According to Arleta, Sexton repeatedly claimed Joanna had gone out to see friends. She said she challenged him, telling him: “You’re lying. Where is my sister? I know she is here.”

Arleta said she then moved Sexton aside and ran upstairs.

‘The first I saw was her black legs, then I saw her face. It was grey and turned to the side, and then her hands,’ she said. 

‘And I didn’t even get in there and ran downstairs and said, ‘You killed my sister’.

‘He was standing in the kitchen with a kitchen knife. He pointed the knife into his hand, and I ran out, and I just started shouting like an animal, ‘You killed my sister.”

Arleta said that her partner who was waiting outside then pulled her away to his car because he was worried that Sexton might hurt her if she went back into the house.

When asked what Sexton looked like when she walked into the house, she said: ‘He was shaking. He looked petrified, scared. He looked like he was, like he had a rough night last night drinking on drugs or something. He didn’t look fresh. 

‘His eyes were kind of like dead. When I asked him, ‘Where is my sister?’ He replied, ‘She’s not here.”

‘He was normally, he sounds very loud and confident and this time he had a very fragile voice and very soft. Not very loud. Just like ‘she’s not here, she’s not here’.’

She said: ‘I think I asked him three or four times, ‘Where is she and who is she with’. He couldn’t tell me. He said he didn’t know.

‘Things like that happened in the past when he was abusive to her, she was finding comfort in her friends. I don’t know who it was.

‘He was probably trying to use this as an excuse. He knew this happened before so he just said on she went out to see her friends so I said ‘Where? What friends?’

‘He couldn’t tell me because he didn’t know. Again, I said, ‘Where is my sister?’ and he said, ‘I don’t know.’

‘I was still hoping that she was fine, but she wasn’t.’

Arleta said that as she was running out of the house, she thought that Sexton said, ‘I’m sorry.’

She said: ‘I am not sure but I think he said ‘I’m sorry’. When I went downstairs and the way he looked at me it was almost like waiting for me to give him a privilege to do it or me to say something so he could do it.

‘So I just went downstairs, and he said something when I left, and I remember thinking he said ‘I’m sorry.”

Jurors also heard the 999 call made by Lucasz Dylewski, Arleta’s partner on December 28, 2023.

In the call Arleta could be heard screaming and crying.

A neighbour was talking on the phone and said: ‘He’s just killed her sister. I am a neighbour and someone has killed her sister.

‘I don’t know who she is. She said that she is her sister. She said she is dead and has been murdered.

‘Everyone’s out here trying to help the girl. No one has seen anything.

‘Joanna and Stephen lived there. I was upstairs, and I heard screaming in the middle of the road. I thought someone had been run over.’

The trial continues.