Overview

• A Liverpool Crown Court jury unanimously convicted John Sarawanskyj, 52, of murdering his 73-year-old father Ivan in a December 22 attack marked by sustained blows to the head, chest and abdomen.
• Merseyside Police presented CCTV clips showing him using his father’s bank card six times at a local off-licence on the day of the killing and later approaching the home to shout “he’s dead.”
• Paramedics testified that an intoxicated Sarawanskyj told them he “wasn’t bothered” by his father’s death, describing Ivan as “not a nice man.”
• Witnesses described long-running disputes over money and his belief that his father had poisoned the family dog as motives for the fatal assault.
• Sarawanskyj initially suggested a third party’s involvement and later claimed self-defence, but jurors rejected both defences before the judge imposed the life term.