Dead pianist’s husband did time for beating her

In 2013, John Martin, who doubled as Strelchenko's manager, spent 60 days in Ilseng low security prison in Hamar, Norway, for beating and threatening to kill his wife.

 

“You won't leave me. There is only one solution, first you die, and then I die. I will kill you,” he shouted during the incident, according to court documents obtained by the newspaper.  

 

During the trial, Strelchenko testified that she was not frightened of Martin, who she had married three days before the start of the trial. 

 

But the court chose to base their convictions instead on her reaction on the day of the incident.  

“The court notes that she called for help during the incident and that she expressed fears that the accused may harm her because of his strength and lack of control,” the court document reads.

According to VG, the couple met in 2007 and lived together in Oslo from 2011.

 

They briefly separated for a few months, but were again living together when the domestic violence incident occurred in November 2012. 

 

The attack happened at the couple's home in Manchester, England. 


According to the court documents, Strelchenko stormed out of the house after a heated argument, telling her husband that she was leaving. He then accosted her at a bus stop, and physically carried her back to the house where he locked her in a bathroom.  

 

When he finally let her out, he tried to strangle her, yelling repeatedly that she was going to die. 

 

In court Strelchenko said she had not been alarmed by his words, because she saw it as a form of play. 

Strelchenko was found with severe head and neck injuries at the couple's home in Manchester on Sunday morning. Paramedics were unable to revive her.

John Martin was on Monday formally charged with murdering Strelchenko and attempting to murder a boy under the age of 17. The boy is presumed to be Strelchenko's fourteen-year-old son from a previous relationship.