Woman stabbed Citibank partner after 'kill yourself' taunt, Old Bailey hears

Joanna Cierpka, 51, told jurors her boyfriend Henrik Slotsaa told her to "kill yourself already, you freak" before his death. She denies murder but admits manslaughter.

Defendant says Citibank boyfriend told her to 'kill yourself already' before fatal stabbing

A 51-year-old woman told the Old Bailey on Wednesday how her City banker boyfriend told her to "kill yourself already, you freak" in the weeks before she stabbed him to death, The Independent reports.

Joanna Cierpka, described in court as an unemployed business executive, is standing trial for the murder of Henrik Slotsaa, 52, a Citibank worker whose body was found at the couple's flat in Elephant and Castle, south London, on 15 March 2026. She has pleaded not guilty to murder but accepts responsibility for manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility.

Giving evidence, Cierpka described how her relationship with Slotsaa had deteriorated alongside her mental health. On her birthday in January, she said, he told her he no longer loved her and had met someone else. She said she felt "sad" after reading text exchanges between Slotsaa and the other woman on his phone but felt unable to confront him.

On 19 February, the court was told, Cierpka searched online for "I don't want to live anymore" and "how to end it".

Jacqueline Carey KC, defending, asked whether Slotsaa had known how she was feeling. Cierpka replied: "Yes. He didn't understand depression but I told him several times I don't want to live. He was saying that I'm only talking about it, not doing anything. Once also he told me that I make sure if I do it the flat fully goes to him. He was also really annoyed I scratched my eczema. He said: 'Kill yourself already, you freak.'"

Cierpka told jurors that in the days before Slotsaa's death she had searched online for his female co-worker because she was "just curious about the person I was supposed to be replaced with". When asked why she had also searched for "artery and neck", she said she had wanted to kill herself.

She told jurors she did not know whether Slotsaa had been alive or dead when she searched for "the highest penalty in the UK" in the early hours of 9 March. She said she remembered going into the kitchen for a knife to kill herself, and that the next thing she recalled was sitting in the living room with the blade on the coffee table. She said she had no memory of cutting Slotsaa's neck in the bedroom or of how he came to sustain injuries to the back of his knees, described by prosecutors as consistent with an attempt at dismemberment.

"I felt mortified," she told jurors. "It was me that was supposed to be dead."

She said she did not call police afterwards because she "wanted to be dead before anyone found out". In the week before Slotsaa's body was discovered, she said she had not even changed her clothes.

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Cierpka was born in Poland and studied marketing and management at university before completing a master's degree in financial services. She joined British American Tobacco as a management trainee. She met Slotsaa through an online dating site, moved to London to live with him and the pair eventually shared a mortgage on their flat.

The couple had previously enjoyed an active social life, with regular restaurant meals and theatre visits, she said. The coronavirus lockdown proved "extremely hard" and reminded her of an "Orwell book". At the end of 2020 she was made redundant and, she told the court, struggled to find new work while suffering from depression. She described briefly helping to run a seasonal café in Greece and working as a barista at Starbucks in 2024, but said she had not secured permanent employment.

"I felt really guilty that I cannot pull myself together," she told jurors. "It was like a daily battle with myself. I was spending most of my life on the sofa, sometimes doing some stupid games on the phone, sometimes just watching the ceiling."

In 2025, a friend took her to Greece where she had a five-week relationship with a man named Dennis Leftakis, who ran a taverna. She told the court she had been feeling "low" and that it "just happened", even though she still loved Slotsaa. She said she never told him about the affair: "I loved Henrik. I didn't want to break this relationship."

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Cross-examining, Danny Robinson KC, prosecuting, suggested that while Cierpka had kept her affair secret, Slotsaa had been "straightforward" about no longer loving her and having met someone else. He noted that colleagues had described Slotsaa as a "caring and patient man" who had encouraged Cierpka to seek help for her depression.

Cierpka confirmed that Slotsaa had suggested she get professional help. She said she felt "not wanted" when she read text exchanges between him and the co-worker while he was in the shower, including a photograph she had taken of Slotsaa that he sent to the colleague while sitting next to her.

Robinson put it to her directly: "Is that why you decided to kill Henrik? I suggest that's exactly what you did — you took the knife and killed him, didn't you?"

The trial, which continues at the Old Bailey, was adjourned until Thursday.

Source: The Independent