Accused told gardai he did not know murdered woman

The man accused of strangling a young Albanian woman in her Sligo flat in February last year told gardaí that he did not know she was dead until detectives told him.

Mr Eduart Kulici, an Albanian, said he was shocked to learn Ms Lindita Kukaj was dead.

In a statement to detectives after his arrest Mr Kulici confirmed that he and another man, Mr Bashkim Osaj, had spent the night in Ms Kukaj flat.

The defendant said he had slept in the sitting room while Mr Osaj slept in the bedroom with the young woman. Mr Osaj had woken him early next morning saying they had to go as he had beaten Ms Kukaj up and was afraid she would tell someone.

Mr Osaj, the chief prosecution witness, has already told the Central Criminal Court that he slept in the sitting room of the flat in Wolfe Tone Street, Sligo, while Mr Kulici and the girl were in the bedroom. He said Mr Kulici confessed to him the following morning that he had killed the 23-year-old woman who had lived in Sligo for over three years.

Mr Kulici initially told gardaí that he had been in Ireland only five or six days at the time of the murder, having arrived in the back of a truck.

He later admitted this was not true and that he had been here for over a month. The jury has also heard that initially he gave gardaí a false name. Mr Kulici, with an address at Maltings Apartments, Bonham Street, Dublin, is denying the murder of Ms Kukaj at her home in Wolfe Tone Street, Sligo on February 22nd 2003.

The court heard that when he was questioned by gardaí the accused said he had not murdered the young woman and had not known her.

The following day he told gardaí he did not know about the murder until they told him.

He said he had only known Ms Kukaj for one day. He said Mr Osaj had known her for a few years. The trial continues today.