A pair of former abattoir workers alleged to have stabbed and butchered two men have been found guilty of their murders. It was claimed Jacob-Bebe Chers and Ionut-Valentin Boboc tricked their way into the Easton home of former workmate Denzil McKenzie, who was with visitor Fahad Hossain Pramanik.
The Crown said over the course of three hours the defendants brutally stabbed both men and left their bodies on "macabre display" in Mr McKenzie's sitting room. Mr McKenzie had been stabbed 23 times, Mr Pramanik three times, and it was claimed Mr Pramanik was disembowelled after his death.
Boboc, 22, of Abingdon Road in Hillfields, pleaded guilty to murdering Mr McKenzie but denied murdering Mr Pramanik in September last year. Chers, 46, of Whitefield, Hillfields denied both murder charges. Please be advised that the information reported below from court contains details of a distressing nature.
READ MORE: Defence cases heard in Easton double murder trial
Today (December 7) a jury at Bristol Crown Court convicted them both of the murder charges they denied. They were told they would receive life imprisonment when sentenced on December 21.
The jury was told that in September last year the defendants visited the house of Mr McKenzie in Wood Street, Easton, where McKenzie and Mr Pramanik were. Kevin Dent KC, prosecuting, said at around 10pm a neighbour heard shouting, and at around 11pm the two defendants left with McKenzie's property including audio equipment and jewellery.
They left behind a scene of horror, the court heard. Efforts had been made to clean the scene, and black car paint had been sprayed on the bodies and around the house. Both the accused got rid of clothes they were wearing and were arrested the next day, Mr Dent said.
The Crown said there was a recurrent theme of Boboc asking Mr McKenzie for loans. They say evidence also shows Mr McKenzie asking for "sexual favours" from Boboc, and though Boboc says he is "not gay" he discusses some sexual activity - though Boboc says Mr McKenzie "will die" if he oversteps the mark, the court heard during the course of the trial.
Police collated CCTV evidence of the defendants' movements before and after the murders. But no cameras captured what happened in the house.
Mr Dent said the victims were found in the rear sitting room. Mr McKenzie was on the sofa, Mr Pramanik was on the floor and their clothes were damaged.
During the trial Mr Dent said: "There was an element of macabre display about how these bodies had been dealt with." Pathologist Dr Deborah Cook carried out a post-mortem examination on the deceased, the jury heard.
Mr Pramanik had been disembowelled and Mr McKenzie's foot was left by the abdominal wound. The jury looked at a computer generated image body map of Mr McKenzie's 23 stab wounds, including wounds to his chest, outer thigh, head, neck, eye and toe. The tip of a knife was found dislodged in his breastbone, the court heard.
He also had wounds indicative of him trying to defend himself, the court heard. A body map of Mr Pramanik shows he was stabbed three times - to his back as well as a severe neck wound. He also had a bite mark on his right arm, and defensive injuries.
Mr Dent said: "After his death he had been disembowelled in a gruesome echo of the butchering the defendants carried out at the abattoir on pigs. That's the terrible state in which the two bodies were left."
The next day, when the defendants were arrested, they each had a bite mark and Chers had grazed knuckles. The Crown says black car paint was used to try and cover up defendant's presence at the scene.
The day after the killings Boboc admitted to his partner Elena and aunt Maria he had killed a man, and Boboc made a video recorded confession, in Romanian, saying so. He also said "another guy" had killed a second man. Police called in found the scene of horror in Wood Street.
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