Agnes Akom: Lorry driver killed woman with power tool, jury told

A lorry driver killed a woman with an electric power tool inside a rented shipping container, a court has heard.

The body of 20-year-old Agnes Akom, who was also known as Dora, was found by police buried under a pile of logs in a Neasden Recreation Ground, north-west London, on 23 May 2021.

She had been killed in the shipping container, located on a nearby industrial estate, by Neculai Paizan, 64, the Old Bailey was told.

Mr Paizan denies murdering Ms Akom.

Opening the case for the prosecution, Jacob Hallam said Ms Akom had been killed in a "sustained assault" involving at least 20 blows to her head.

"When that container was examined it was found to be heavily stained with the blood of Agnes," Mr Hallam told the court.

"While vigorous attempts had been made to clean it up, it was made visible through scientific analysis."

Some of Ms Akom's clothing was also found "bagged and discarded" along with an electric jigsaw power tool, which the prosecution alleges had been used to hit her over her head and was covered in her hairs.

The jury also heard that in the months before the killing, the defendant had been seen by car showroom staff in Neasden in the company of Ms Akom at the shipping container.

Ms Akom was last seen on 9 May 2021 leaving her home in Brent. She had told her partner she was going to work but had instead arranged to meet with Mr Paizan on Facebook, the Old Bailey heard.

She then waited at a coffee shop before driving away in his car.

The last sighting of Ms Akom was at 11.47 as she got out of Mr Paizan's car and walked to the shipping container, the jury was told.

CCTV footage was played to the jury showing Ms Akom wearing a white coat and walking towards the container followed by the defendant and the door closing behind them.

About 35 minutes later the defendant had come out of the container alone "holding his left arm awkwardly and there were red-coloured marks on his forearm," Mr Hallam said.

No-one else went into or came out of the container in those 35 minutes, the prosecutor said.

"The red markings on his arm are the blood of the woman he had just killed," Mr Hallam told the court.

Mr Paizan then drove to a skip where police later found Ms Akom's fur coat, clothing and a pillow case that contained the electric power tool, the court heard.

Later the same day he had dragged a white item large enough to contain a human body from a storage facility near to the container, said Mr Hallam.

The following afternoon, Mr Paizan went to Neasden Recreation Ground where he used a waste bin to move her body to the site he had chosen to bury it, the court heard.

The trial continues.

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