Woman appears in court charged with murder of Tony Browne in Belfast home

A 34-year old woman appeared in court on Thursday where she denied murdering west Belfast man Anthony Browne. Mr Browne (54), known as Tony, was stabbed in his Poleglass home last October and died in hospital from his injuries. Wiktoria Maksymowicz appeared at Belfast Crown Court via a videolink with Hydebank, where she denied four offences 'aggravated by reason of involving domestic abuse.'

It did, however, emerge that Maksymowicz has admitted she caused the fatal wound. After confirming she could see and hear the court, the Polish national, with an address at Woodside Park in Dunmurry, was arraigned on four charges. She was charged with murdering Anthony Browne on October 14, 2022 in an offence aggravated by reason of involving domestic abuse. When asked how she pleaded, Maksymowicz replied "not guilty." She also denied a charge of possessing an offensive weapon with intent to commit murder in an offence aggravated by reason of involving domestic abuse on the same date. In addition, she had two charges allegedly committed on October 13, 2022 put to her - namely assaulting Mr Browne and possessing a knife on a Glider bus. When charged with these offences - both of which were aggravated by reason of involving domestic abuse - the accused replied "not guilty" to them. As relatives and friends of the deceased sat in the public gallery, they heard defence barrister Gavan Duffy KC tell Mr Justice O'Hara: "It's not being suggested that the knife wound did not cause the death of the deceased and we're not suggesting anyone else inflicted the wound." Mr Duffy said he was seeking a consultant psychiatric report in relation to the defendant "to address certain issues in terms of mental health but also potentially looking at issues of diminished responsibility and matters of that type." Mr Justice O'Hara acknowledged the presence of Mr Browne's loved ones in court and asked "Just to spell out what you have just indicated, Mr Duffy, it's not denied by your client that Mr Browne died by a knife wound which was caused by your client?" This was confirmed by the defence barrister, who revealed that whilst Maksymowicz "is suffering from amnesia in relation to aspects of this", she was not suggesting "the injury was caused by anyone else." The Judge said he would review the case on January 12, 2024 when a date for the trial will be fixed.

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