A woman giving evidence against her former husband in a domestic abuse trial has suggested that he claims to be deaf to get benefits.
Konstanty Bembnista is currently on trial on charges of historic assault and stalking, at Wick Sheriff Court, where special arrangements have been made on the basis that he was profoundly deaf.
Court reporters are typing out live subtitles which 68-year-old Bembnista is following on a screen and the accused was given special permission to have his Jack Russell by his side.
The surprise allegation about his hearing loss, said to be 97%, was made by Marie Islam, 47, while she was being questioned about her former husband’s disability.
She claimed Bembnista’s hearing loss was at best, only slight. He didn’t use hearing aids, yet was able to listen to the television and radio, and answer the telephone during their time in Caithness.
Bembnista’s solicitor, Miss Fiona MacDonald, asked: “The impression I get is that you don’t accept your former husband has a hearing loss!”
Mrs Islam: “Perhaps he did have a slight hearing loss but if he did, it was just that.”
She said that the accused’s hearing was never an issue during their 12 years together at their idyllic Kyleburn Cottage in Lybster, where they made a new start after marrying and moving north in 1991.
The court previously heard from her about the abuse that Bembnista regularly inflicted on her punching and kicking her and threatening to kill her, throwing things at her and spitting in her face.
Bembnista, of The Meadows, Thrumster, near Wick, denies a series of assaults of Mrs Islam between June 1991 and 2013. He also pleads not guilty to stalking her in Edinburgh and threatening her and repeatedly phoning her.
The trial will resume on Monday.
