Enraged man beat friend to death, trial told

A man became enraged before beating his friend to death with his bare hands, a murder trial was told.

Ilja Akatjevas was found with fatal head, neck and face injuries inside a flat in Mill House on College Street, Ipswich, after he was allegedly attacked on the night of 22 December.

Arvydas Maliusis, 38, of Recorder Road, Norwich, is charged with murdering the 39-year-old.

At Ipswich Crown Court on Tuesday, the court was told Maliusis, who denies murder, delivered a barrage of "hard and fast" punches to Akatjevas in a fit of rage after a night of drinking vodka.

Akatjevas, a Lithuanian national, allegedly pushed a woman who the pair were with that night and then attempted to hit Maliusis.

The woman, giving evidence at court from behind a screen, said the defendant "became enraged and threw one big punch" at the alleged victim, before inflicting further "hard and fast" punches to his face.

On video footage recorded by a neighbour at about 23:28 GMT, which was played in court, strained, guttural screaming could be heard.

At the same time, Suffolk Police officers were in the foyer of the building on the ground floor, having been called by a different tenant to reports of a disturbance.

But they left a few minutes later.

The witness said she saw blood spitting out of the victim's mouth during the alleged attack, but she "didn't think he was going to die".

"I was saying stop it but [Maliusis] was very strong," she said.

She said at one point that evening, Akatjevas came out of his bedroom holding a knife, but it was not suggested this was used to attack Maliusis.

Before the incident, the group had spent the evening listening to music, play-fighting and drinking from litre bottles of vodka purchased from a nearby shop.

The shop's manager, also giving evidence, said Akatjevas could be a "polite customer" but was also a heavy drinker and had a tendency to "become super aggressive".

The woman said she and Maliusis left Akatjevas lying on the floor and CCTV played in court showed the pair calmly walking away from the scene, stopping on occasion to cuddle one another.

The two of them went back to the woman's home in the town - and they tried calling Akatjevas's mobile.

The next morning, on 23 December, they walked back to Mill House where they found him dead.

Maliusis called Suffolk Police, telling the force that Akatjevas was "fine" when they had left him. Officers arrested him at 11:56 GMT.

The woman was arrested on suspicion of murder before being released.

"I really didn't think he was going to die. Both of us didn't think he had died that evening," she said.

The trial, which is being presided over by Judge Samantha Leigh, continues.

Do you have a story suggestion for Suffolk? Contact us below.

Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.