A cleaner charged with the murder of her client admitted to lying in her first interview with police and said she threw a knife used to stab the 92-year-old in a rubbish bin, a court has been told.
Mother of two Hanny Papanicolaou, 38, is standing trial in the NSW Supreme Court after pleading not guilty to the murder of Marjorie Welsh in early 2019.
Ms Welsh died six weeks after sustaining serious injuries during an incident at her home in Ashbury in Sydney’s inner west.
Ms Papanicolaou was Ms Welsh’s cleaner and on Thursday the court was played video of her first recorded interview with police after her arrest.
At the start of the interview Senior Constable Rebecca Lxjmtzywittle asked Ms Papanicolaou to confirm an account of an earlier conversation she had with an officer after her arrest.
Ms Papanicolaou agreed that she told that officer she was “lying” about the clothes she had on at the time.
The court was told Ms Papanicolaou initially claimed the clothes she was wearing were the same ones she had on when she was at Ms Welsh’s house earlier in the day on January 2, 2019.
The claim was false, with Ms Papanicolaou admitting she changed her clothes after leaving Ms Welsh’s house and dumped what she was previously wearing outside a Sydney Tools store near her Roselands home.
When the police officer asked where the knife used to “stab the old lady” was located, Ms Papanicolaou agreed that she said “I put it in the rubbish bin”.
As Constable Little moved to directly question Ms Papanicolaou about why she went to Ms Welsh’s home on a Wednesday, the day Ms Welsh sustained her injuries, she said she usually cleaned the home on a Friday,
“Of course I wanted money, I needed work,” Ms Papanicolaou said.
“I was trying to go to my client at Darlinghurst but she cancelled until 15 or 16 January.”
Ms Papanicolaou said after Ms Welsh failed to answer the front door she entered the home through another door.
“Usually, when I go there she’s already ready, she’s waiting for me,” Ms Papanicolaou said.
“She’s so beautiful … she always told me ‘I’m going to adopt you’ … she’s very nice.”
The court was told the pair’s relationship turned sour, with Ms Papanicolaou claiming Ms Welsh accused her of stealing $50 that went missing.
“I said, ‘I’m not stealing your money,” Ms Papanicolaou said.
“I told her ‘Marj, please relax’.”
Ms Papanicolaou said when the pair became involved in a physical struggle, Ms Welsh hit her with a walking stick.
“After that I grabbed the stick and I broke it,” she told the court.
“I didn’t want her to have the stick.
“She tried to get up and she knocked her head into the fridge.”
Ms Papanicolaou said during the altercation she was hit with a magnifying glass and the situation escalated when Ms Welsh picked up a knife.
“Because she was holding a knife I was just so scared,” Ms Papanicolaou said.
“I said, ‘Let go of your knife’.
“I grabbed her hand and I pushed her until she fell down … it was just so fast.”
When told by police that Ms Welsh was found with four stab wounds and asked about how they came about, Ms Papanicolaou said: “I don’t know where the knife go. I was not angry.”
After the altercation ended, Ms Papanicolaou said Ms Welsh, whose face was covered in blood, told her to leave the house.
It was then Ms Papanicolaou said she picked up a phone because she “just wanted to call 911”, along with the knife used in the altercation.
After Ms Papanicolaou grabbed the items, the court was told she jumped a back fence and left with a belief that help was coming.
Ms Papanicolaou said following her departure from Ms Welsh’s yard she told her husband about what happened, drove “around and around”, had a cigarette and disposed of her clothing, Ms Welsh’s phone and the knife.
“I don’t know,” she said when asked why she put new clothes on.
The trial continues.
