Leonid Laboshin, inset, was found dead with 27 stab wounds at his home in Botley
A man on trial for allegedly stabbing his flatmate to death was acting out a ‘bizarre fantasy’ of being the titular assassin from video game series Hitman, a court has heard.
Eugen Coman, 34, is accused of murdering 31-year-old Leonid Laboshin in the kitchen of their home in Botley, Oxfordshire, in October last year.
Prosecutors say Coman was either driven by his fascination with the fictional character, known as ‘Agent 47’, or by ‘good old fashioned sexual jealousy’ after the victim went on a trip with a female housemate he was interested in.
The court was told Coman became angered when he saw Leonid and Mariya Fando sharing a joke over their immigration paperwork, and started knifing the 31-year-old, inflicting 27 wounds.
Prosecutors say Coman may also have been motivated by ‘sexual jealousy’ (Picture: SWNS)
Mariya ran to a neighbour’s house and police were called, finding Leonid’s body wrapped up in a sheet in the garden.
Coman, a plant worker, was tracked to his brother’s home in Witney, where he was found dressed in a black suit and tie with his head cleanly shaven.
Prosecutors described the outfit as ‘rather unusual for killing’ and said he had asked his brother to shave off his hair the day before Leonid was killed.
Forensic searches of his devices uncovered a number of internet searches linked to Hitman’s protagonist, who is bald-headed and carries out contract killings in a sleek suit.
Coman admits to killing Leonid, a Russian national, but claims he was not in his right mind at the time.
Leonid is said to have gone on a trip with his alleged killer’s crush (Picture: SWNS)
He has pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility but denies murder.
Opening the trial at Oxford Crown Court on 1 March, prosecutor Charles Ward-Jackson said the defendant’s mental health is the ‘critical issue in this case’.
He added: ‘The prosecution say there really are two competing motives for the killing.
‘One is what one might call good old fashioned sexual jealousy; the cause of many killings since Helen of Troy and no doubt before that. It’s a story as old as time.’
Coman had been ‘continually asking her out, being a bit of a pest’, Mr Ward-Jackson added.
The second motive was a desire to resemble Agent 47, he continued: ‘There is evidence on the defendant’s computer that he admired and sought to emulate this rather unsuitable role model.’
Jurors were told searches of the house also found knife with traces of diluted blood and Leonid’s DNA and burnt fragments of his immigration paperwork.
Coman was also said to have a tendency to ‘fly off the handle’ and on one occasion allegedly attacked his landlord when asked for rent.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
Eugen Coman shaved his head the day before allegedly stabbing Leonid Laboshin 27 times and was found wearing a suit, prosecutors say.