Jurors in the 'Hitman' murder trial were told the case had had ‘nothing to do with love’.

Addressing Oxford Crown Court on behalf of her client Eugen Coman yesterday (March 14), Tana Adkin KC sought to convince the jury that her client had been suffering from a severe mental illness at the time of the killing.

Coman, 34, denies murdering his housemate Leonid Laboshin at the home they shared in Pinnocks Way, Botley, in October 2021. He has pleaded guilty to manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility.

Closing her client’s case, defence barrister Ms Adkin said: “This case is not about sexual jealousy. It’s not about love. It had everything to do [with] and is about the delusional beliefs that Eugen Coman had.

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“It is not to do with what may or may not have been developing between [a third housemate] Maryia and Leonid Laboshin.”

She added: “It is everything to do with somebody suffering a serious psychotic illness that was undiagnosed and unseen and untreated.”

She reminded the jury that two of the psychiatrists from whom the court had heard – including one of the Crown’s experts, Prof Seena Fazel – agreed that the defendant was suffering from a psychiatric illness.

It has been suggested that, in the months leading up to the killing and in its aftermath, Coman expressed delusional beliefs about his victim being involved in a conspiracy to harm him.

The jury has been told he apparently had an interest in 'Agent 47', the assassin anti-hero of the 'Hitman' series of games and films. On his arrest he was dressed in similarly smart garb to the sharp-suited killer.

Closing her client's case, Ms Adkin said her client had been described as a polite, quiet man who kept himself to himself.

“Why does a man like that all of a sudden get up and stab someone 27 times?” she asked. She added that according to eyewitness to the stabbing Maryia Fando the defendant’s expression had been ‘completely blank’ and he had ‘not said a word’.

That action was not in keeping with a man motivated by romantic jealousy, as the prosecution alleged, it was suggested to the jury.

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She asked the jury to ensure that emotion did not feature in their deliberations.

“There is no doubt, is there, that this is a tragic case and it’s natural for someone – you included, us included – to have strong feelings concerning what appears to be a wholly unnecessary killing of Leonid Laboshin,” Ms Adkin said.

“It would be natural to have feelings of emotion about that; anger about the waste of a life, what could have been done to stop this from happening, what lessons should have been learnt or could have been learnt.

“But, members of the jury, they are not for this court. They are for other places to consider.

“We are all human; you are all human.

“This court is not a court of emotion, it is not a court for what could have been done differently. There are other places for that.”

Coman, of Pinnocks Way, Botley, denies murder. The trial continues.