A handyman murdered a customer using scissors and cable ties after he sued him for about £2,000, a court has heard.
Dorin Ciorba, of Barking in east London, denies murdering and robbing 62-year-old Osaretin Oronsaye at his home in Dartford, Kent on 5 July.
A jury at Maidstone Crown Court heard on Tuesday that Ciorba – a dual Romanian and Moldovan national aged 29 – visited Oronsaye’s flat for half an hour on the day he died.
Oronsaye’s wife found her husband under a duvet in their bathroom in a pool of blood when she arrived home at about 18:00 BST the same day, the jury was told.
The cable ties were still around Oronsaye’s neck, and scissors were found underneath him when he was moved so CPR could be carried out.
He was pronounced dead at the scene, jurors were told.
Prosecutors say Oronsaye paid the handyman up front for maintenance work believing he could make an insurance claim for the money, but the insurer then sent the funds to Ciorba instead.
Texts and calls show Oronsaye trying to get back that money from the contractor before bringing a county court claim against him, jurors heard.
Dominic Connolly, prosecuting, said it was “known from local CCTV” that Ciorba visited Oronsaye’s flat on 5 July and “in that period the Crown say that he murdered him”.
Police initially believed there were no suspicious circumstances around Oronsaye’s death but, after a post mortem examination, Ciorba was charged two weeks later, the court was told.
Jurors heard Ciorba searched online for reports of a murder while police were treating the death as a suicide.
“In the absence of such a report it appears he feels safe to use Mr Oronsaye’s bank cards,” Connolly said.
The court was told paperwork relating to the legal claim, cable ties, Oronsaye’s car keys and his bank cards were found in a search of Ciorba’s home on 17 July.
Ciorba says he went Oronsaye’s flat to finish a decorating job.
It is the defence case that Oronsaye propositioned Ciorba for sex to pay off his debt while he was there and the defendant shoved him to the floor, but did not attack him beyond that.
The trial continues.
Additional reporting by PA Media
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