Ivan Sarawanskyj died at the age of 73 after suffering multiple injuries in a ‘deliberate and sustained attack' at his Southport home on Braemar Avenue. His son is standing trial
A man accused of murdering his father allegedly “battered” the 73-year-old following accusations that he had performed a sexual act on his dog, a court heard.
Ivan Sarawanskyj met a brutal end with multiple injuries in what was described as a “deliberate and sustained attack” at his Southport pad on Braemar Avenue. His son, John Sarawanskyj, is said to have shockingly confessed to a neighbour that he “jumped all over his father's head”. He's also claimed to have coldly told paramedics: “I'm not bothered he's dead. He wasn't a nice man.”
The tragic tale unfolded against a backdrop of ongoing rows about money and the son's pooch Zeus. The American bulldog's demise three months earlier reportedly left the 52-year-old “deeply upset” and fuelled a “desire for revenge” after pointing the finger at his dad for conspiring with vets to poison the pet.
Initially claiming he was nowhere near the scene when his dad died and hinting someone else might've done the deed or that his old man took a fatal tumble, Sarawanskyj jnr now insists he was only defending himself during a scrap. He's currently on trial at Liverpool Crown Court, charged with murder, reports the ECHO.
Russell Moss, who went to the Sarawanskyj residence twice on the day Ivan died, was summoned to give evidence on Monday. Under cross-examination by defence counsel Benjamin Myers KC yesterday afternoon (June 16), he described the dad as being “very well liked around town” and “always a pleasant man”.
After being accused of exaggerating Mr Sarawanskyj's frailty during his account, he replied: “He was definitely frail, yeah. I used to go to the shop for him, and so did John. It would take him like 20 minutes to get to the shop, and it's not that far away.”
When Mr Myers suggested he'd bag free booze for running errands to the shop for Mr Sarawanskyj, Mr Moss retorted: “Not all the time. It was a goodwill gesture on his behalf. It weren't for free. It would take him 20 minutes. He could hardly walk.”
Mr Moss agreed that he had “seen Ivan get into trouble with other people when he was in town in drink” on a “couple” of occasions previously, and, when asked whether “Ivan had a tendency to stir trouble up a bit”, responded: “He might have done. Not around me. I don't know really. I've never really seen that.”
Mr Myers pressed on: “Was there an occasion where there were some dealers looking for you, and Ivan said that you were around his house? Grassed you up, effectively. You weren't best pleased.”
Mr Moss recalled the incident, saying: “I remember something like that. John said, ‘I'll sort it out, come through this door and I'll smash your f***ing face in' and pushed them out the door. John took care of that. It was dealt with. That was the end of it. I was upset with it. John had dealt with it as a friend.”
After being accused of “having a shot at John on the sly”, Mr Moss defended himself: “No, I'm just telling you truth. I'm just telling you, John sorted it out at the door. ‘Come round here and I'll smash your face in'. I was over the moon at that.
“[Ivan] was grabbed in town on that particular moment. ‘I know he's at your house, is he there?'. Then Ivan said ‘yeah, he's there'. He was scared. That's why I'm not really that upset over it, to be fair. I'd do the same.”
When it was suggested he frequently relied on Ivan's cash for his own needs, Mr Moss hit back: “Not at all. I get £3,000 a month, because I'm not well. I don't sponge off people. You're calling me a scav really, that's what you're saying. You said I'm sponging.”
Regarding an earlier altercation at Mr Sarawanskyj's previous Bath Street residence, Mr Moss revealed: “He laid into him. He said he was w****** his dog off and he was abusing his dog. That's why he battered him.”
When Mr Myers suggested this was “another example of Ivan doing things that could be winding things up a bit of it”, he answered: “I don't know. It would wind me up if someone said that to me.”
The defence barrister insisted his client “didn't hit his dad” at that time, but Mr Moss countered: “Oh, he did. He battered him. He proper laid into him. That's the only once I've seen him batter, hit his dad. John is my friend. I like John, but I'm only telling you the truth mate. He's always been good with me.”
On whether Sarawanskyj jnr “seemed to get upset after Zeus died”, Mr Moss confirmed “that's when the problems started”. He concurred that “John believed that his dad had poisoned his dog or done something to harm Zeus”, and added: “And me, and the vets.”
Mr Myers then asked about “an occasion when Ivan admitted harming Zeus while John was present”, to which Mr Moss recalled: “I can recall, yeah. I think so. Yeah, yeah. You're right, yeah. But I've never been asked that before.”
When Mr Myers mentioned that his client “didn't blame you”, Mr Moss replied: “He's been in tears and everything since this. I've tried to help him. He was blaming everybody. He said, ‘you're like the f****** rest of them'. That's, to me, like he's blaming me. I can only tell you my interpretation of it.”
He pointed the finger at Sarawanskyj for pinning the blame on another witness, Gary Buckley, for Zeus' demise: “He blamed Gary, because Gary took him to the vets. Gary didn't pick John and the dog up, left them at the vets for two hours in the pouring rain. Zeus was howling, because he wasn't well. That's why he blamed Gary, for contributing more to the illness with the dog.”
Mr Moss was also asked of a visit to the Sarawaskyj home earlier on the day of the alleged murder, when he reportedly found Ivan injured on the floor and John apparently refusing to assist his father. Mr Myers accused the witness of “making John Sarawanskyj look worse” as he himself had been arrested on suspicion of murder.
But Mr Moss clapped back: “It had nothing do with me. It was obviously to do with him, not me. If someone knocks on your door and says ‘I'm arresting you on suspicion of murder', am I meant to be over the moon? There's no excuse for what he done to his father, ok?”.
The tension escalated when Mr Moss branded Mr Myers a “t*t” after being accused of fabricating a comment Sarawanskyj allegedly made during a second visit that evening, where he supposedly threatened to “kill him too”. Judge Brian Cummings KC had to step in, urging: “Calm down please. He's got a job to do. Stop swearing. Answer the questions.”
When Mr Moss admitted he “had ADHD and needed to take a break”, Mr Myers reassured him, saying he was “nearly finished”. He then probed: “When you left after the second visit, what condition was Ivan in?”.
Mr Moss recounted: “He was on the floor, facing up like this. I just thought he was asleep. When [John Sarawanskyj] stormed out, he said ‘you're more bothered about my dad than you are the dog'. He said, ‘that's who I'm f****** bothered about'. Then he steamed in, grabbed me, ran me through into the room and said ‘there's my f****** dad, there'. I just knew I had to get out. His eyes had gone.”
Pressed on whether he “did anything to help Ivan” at that point, Mr Moss confessed: “No, he looked asleep. I feared for my life. I had to get out that house. His eyes had gone. Is that it now? I want to go.”
Nick Johnson KC had previously painted a grim picture for the jury of five men and seven women during the opening of the prosecution last week: “On Sunday the 22nd of December last year, this defendant kicked and beat his 73-year-old father to death in his own home by delivering multiple blows to his head, his chest and his abdomen.
“He inflicted 46 external injuries to his head and neck alone, including bone fractures and lacerations. He broke multiple ribs and his sternum. He even fractured some bony ends of his spine, as well as causing extensive internal injuries.
“He then told friends and neighbours and police that he was not even in the house at the time. He told them that he had no issues with his dad that day and that his dad was prone to falling over and could have caused the injuries himself, although he let slip to one neighbour while in drink that he had jumped all over his father's head. He went on to suggest to the police that someone else might have got into the house and killed him.
“The defendant now accepts that he did fight with his father, but says that what he did was reasonable in order to defend himself. However, the evidence not only reveals that the defendant had no significant injuries, as opposed to the very extensive injuries to the much older man, it will also demonstrate an unjustified, deliberate and sustained attack.
“There is also background evidence, such as arguments over giving him money for alcohol and a desire for deliberate revenge in the belief that his father had poisoned his American bulldog. As such, the prosecution say that this is a plain case of murder.”
Jurors heard that Mr Sarawanskyj had lived at the address for “a couple of years or more” before being “joined by his son in more recent months”, together with Zeus and his XL bully. But they were said to have had a “difficult relationship”, with both men being described as having a “history of alcoholism” and neighbours “hearing arguments and swearing on a regular basis”.
Donna Larkey, who lived just across from the father-son duo, remembered the chilling sounds of “loud shouting” coming from their house in the early hours of December 22, 2024. She described a fuming Sarawanskyj Junior demanding cash in an “angry” tirade.
Mr Moss, a neighbour for about three years, shared that the accused had spun a wild tale alleging that he, another chap named Mr Buckley, Ivan, and bizarrely, even the local vets were part of a plot that led to his beloved dog Zeus being poisoned.
The tragic loss of Zeus in September 2024 seemed to have flipped a switch in him, leading to a noticeable shift in his demeanour. Mr Johnson from the prosecution pointed out: “The prosecution's case is that the defendant was deeply upset by the death of his dog.”
Mr Moss, who had stayed at the Sarawanskyj residence on December 20, recalled Ivan appearing his usual self, save for an “old bruise to one eye”. John brushed it off, claiming it was from a tumble “falling over, flat on his face”.
But when Mr Moss returned around midday on December 22, he stumbled upon a grim scene – the father sprawled on the floor with a black eye and blood oozing from his ear.
Sarawanskyj Junior, standing trial in a grey Under Armour jacket and a buzz cut, coldly remarked at the time that his old man had “fallen over again, the soft c***”. When Mr Moss urged him to lend a hand to his injured dad, the son dismissed it with a heartless: “He'll be alright, he'll get up himself. Take no f****** notice. He's alright. He's staying there.”
Ivan was subsequently given a cigarette by his son and left lying on the floor. Later that day, Mr Moss returned to the property, finding John in an “agitated” state and “flipping out”, but with £90 in cash and some scratch cards on him, stating he “wanted £100 to buy some drugs”.
When Mr Moss asked Sarawanskyj Jr about his father's condition, he responded that he “wasn't arsed about him”. He then opened the back door to point out where Zeus was buried in the garden, adding that he was “arsed about that”.
He claimed his father was asleep, but when it was noted that Ivan wasn't in his bed, he retorted: “No, he's f****** down there.”
Mr Johnson informed the court: “That was when Mr Moss saw the deceased lying between the bed and the wall. Mr Moss immediately knew that something serious had happened. He panicked and wanted to leave, but the defendant said that he was concerned about his dog and then pushed Mr Moss into the wall.
“Mr Moss was frightened and made an excuse, saying that he needed to go see his friend but that he would be back. The defendant warned him not to say anything.”
Later, Sarawanskyj knocked on the door of Christopher Caldwell, his neighbour two doors down, at around 9pm and allegedly confessed: “He's dead, my dad. I jumped all over his head. I didn't like him anyway.”
When quizzed by Mr Caldwell about calling an ambulance, Sarawanskyj admitted he hadn't and then scarpered off again. Mr Johnson remarked on this admission: “If the defendant did indeed say that, the prosecution say that it is a remarkable confession.”
Sarawanskyj later turned up at Mr Buckley's house on Eden Avenue just after half eleven at night, blurting out: “He's dead. I don't know what to do.”
Mr Buckley went back with him to Braemar Avenue, only to find Ivan stone dead on the floor next to the bed, prompting him to dial 999. Sarawanskyj was there to greet the paramedics when they showed up before 12, bluntly saying: “He's dead. I know he's dead, but you can come in and take a look.”
The accused then said he couldn't remember when he last saw his dad alive, confessing he'd been “out all day” and coldly adding: “I'm not bothered he's dead. He wasn't a nice man.”
Meanwhile, Ivan Sarawanskyj was discovered with a catalogue of injuries in a blood-splattered bedroom. His son later claimed to officers he last saw his dad around 8 in the morning, insisting: “I've been to town today, check the CCTV footage. He's a drinker right, I go out. I'm not gonna kill me old fella, am I?”.
Upon finding a blood-soaked sponge and cloth near the kitchen sink, officers arrested Sarawanskyj on suspicion of murder. During his search, he insisted “I've done f*** all” and grumbled about the loss of his father, accusing the officers of being aggressive.
In the first of three interviews, Sarawanskyj told detectives he was clueless about what had transpired, stating he found his father upon returning home. He claimed to have spent the day strolling around Southport with his dog.
He admitted to past disagreements with his father, but nothing serious, adding that his dad would occasionally lose his temper when inebriated, at which point he would steer clear.
During a second round of questioning, Sarawanskyj described his father as someone who “always got bevvied and fell over”. He mentioned that the front door was habitually left ajar, while the back door was insecure.
In a third interview, he read out a prepared statement: “I am devastated that my dad has passed away, and it is very difficult trying to come to terms with it.
“I have no recollection at all of having any type of falling out with my dad on the 22nd of December. My memory is not good at all. I can't remember when I last saw my dad alive. As soon as I found my father lifeless, I went to my neighbour for help. I do not believe that I hurt my dad. However, my dad was a drinker and has fallen out with a lot of people. I question whether someone else has attacked him.”
The trial continues…
