Jamie Lee Warn faces one charge of murder following the death of Zsuzsanna Besenyei in May 2018.
He has already faced trial but the Court of Appeal ordered a retrial.
The defendant appeared in the Royal Court yesterday, flanked by two prison officers, and the jury was told that it was ‘no secret’ that Mr Warn had already been tried.
However, Commissioner Sir Michael Birt, presiding, told jurors that, in order to allow the trial to progress fairly, they must disregard anything they had heard or read previously.
Crown Advocate Simon Thomas, prosecuting, told the court that Ms Besenyei had moved to Jersey in 2011 and, at the time of her death, had been here for around seven years. He added that Mr Warn had met the alleged victim while they both worked at the now-demolished Les Charrières Hotel in St Peter.
Advocate Thomas said it was the prosecution’s case that Mr Warn was in a long-term relationship with another woman but was allegedly in a ‘secret’ sexual relationship with Ms Besenyei.
On 10 May, the prosecution says, Ms Besenyei drove to Mr Warn’s First Tower flat, arriving at around 6.30pm.
Advocate Thomas added that, at 8.20pm, CCTV captured Mr Warn walking into Checkers and buying a bottle of hand sanitiser.
‘It is the prosecution’s case that he had killed her in the period between her entering the flat and him going into Checkers,’ Advocate Thomas says.
He accused Mr Warn of ‘an elaborate cover up’ in the days that followed until Ms Besenyei’s body was discovered at Le Pulec (Stinky Bay) in the north-west of the Island several days later. ‘He was trying to literally get away with murder,’ Advocate Thomas added.
The court heard that Ms Besenyei allegedly did not have a lot of money but was reportedly concerned about her personal appearance. As a result of this, she attended appointments with hairdressers, beauticians and personal trainers. The prosecution says she had been expecting to receive money from Mr Warn. A ‘microblading’ appointment, Advocate Thomas said, cost £300 alone.
Jurors were today due to visit Mr Warn’s First Tower flat. Advocate James Bell is defending.
