Attempted murder trial makes third round after 2 mistrials
By KATE THAYER – kthayer@kcchronicle.com
ST. CHARLES – A North Aurora woman described how her husband placed a plastic bag over her head, trying to suffocate her in the first day of the man’s jury trial.
Dariusz Hrehorowicz, 37, is charged with attempted murder and unlawful restraint in a January 2008 incident in the home he shared with his wife, Aneta Cop. Hrehorowicz has pleaded not guilty.
Cop testified Monday in the first day of her estranged husband’s trial. It was the third attempt at the trial, which ended in a mistrial twice before.
The first trial resulted in a deadlocked jury, and the second was declared a mistrial after Cop fainted in front of the jury as she approached the witness stand to testify.
Cop, 34, took the stand Monday, testifying that her husband attacked her on Jan. 23, 2008, in their North Aurora home on Grand Road.
Cop had filed for divorce after about 13 years of marriage earlier that month, and Hrehorowicz was served those papers about a week and a half before the attack, according to Cop’s testimony.
The couple owned a commercial cleaning business, which they ran from their basement. Cop explained how she ran the operations of the business while her husband, along with some family members, did the cleaning.
After Cop filed for divorce, Hrehorowicz told her he didn’t want to work for the business, she said.
So, Cop hired a replacement that started to work for her three days before the attack, she said.
Cop was moving cleaning supplies from the basement to the kitchen, sorting which ones she would put in a newly-rented storage facility when she heard Hrehorowicz call to her from the basement, according to her testimony.
After he insisted she forgot something, Cop followed Hrehorowicz to a basement and went into a closet, she said.
Hrehorowicz then came up behind Cop and placed a plastic bag over her head, she testified.
“I was very surprised,” she said, adding that she was able to break free from the bag.
Hrehorowicz then threw Cop to the ground and got on top of her, pinning her arms with one hand and covering her mouth with his other hand, she said.
“All I was thinking is to get away,” Cop said.
Hrehorowicz then told Cop, “I have to do this so you don’t hurt anybody else,” Cop testified.
After about 20 to 30 seconds, Cop again broke free from Hrehorowicz’s hold and ran up the stairs, she said.
Once in the kitchen, Cop grabbed the land-line phone and tried to dial 911, she said. Hrehorowicz chased after her and told her that she shouldn’t bother because the phone didn’t work, according to her testimony.
Cop discovered there was no dial tone, and ran toward her cell phone, which Hrehorowicz knocked out of her hand, she said. He also grabbed his cell phone away from Cop, she said.
Cop then ran out the back door and jumped over the home’s wood fence, breaking it, she said.
She then ran to her neighbor’s house and banged with her fists on the window before her neighbor opened the door, Cop said.
Police arrived at the home after the neighbor dialed 911 and handed the phone to Cop, she said.
Hrehorowicz’s attorney said in her opening statements that Hrehorowicz he did nothing wrong and that Cop left the home because she was mad and injured herself on the fence.
“What he’s guilty of is basically he loved his wife too much,” his attorney said.
The trial continues today.
