Wioletta Trojanowska
135.
Ms Trojanowska is a young Polish woman who kept house for Bane from the summer
of 2001 until his death. She was introduced to him by his dentist, Mr Kaczmarski. At
first she would come to help Bane twice a week, but after a month she began to come
daily apart from a few Sundays. Bane was a generous employer. Apart from paying
her £50 a day, he agreed to pay the cost of building a house for her in Poland, and also
gave her money for holidays and a car.
136.
From time to time Bane would talk to Ms Trojanowska about his family. He told her
that he had once been happy with his wife, his sister and his son, but that all finished
when he got divorced. He said that he had wanted to give his son the best education,
but his son had not wanted that and had told Bane on one occasion that he did not
want to be like his father. Bane told her that he had not seen Zoran or spoken to him
for 15 years, and saw no reason to speak with Zoran if Zoran did not wish to speak to
him. On another occasion he said that, as his son had forgotten him, he would forget
his son; and as Zoran had not treated him as a father, so Bane would not treat him as a
son.
137.
Bane never spoke to Ms Trojanowska about the terms of his will, but on one occasion
he did tell her that he did not want to leave anything to his son, his sister or “the
priest”. She explained in cross-examination that the priest was Archpriest Kostic, and
that Bane said he had changed his mind about leaving money to him, although he did
not explain to her the reason for his change of mind. So far as his son and his sister
were concerned, he said that he no longer had any family; after his divorce he had lost
the family, they had broken his heart, and he had no further relationship with them. In
talking about his family, Bane did not differentiate between his sister and his son, but
it was obvious to Ms Trojanowska that he included both of them in that term,
although not his wife whom he regarded as having no relationship with him at all after
their divorce. He would sometimes show her albums with photographs of his family,
and say “It was good time, but everything is finished”. Although Bane did not talk
with her often about the past, and although he did not wish to go into detail when he
did, this theme of a happy past, after which “everything finished”, was one to which
he returned more than once, and which impressed itself on Ms Trojanowska strongly
enough for her to remember it specifically.
Raymond Seeley
138.
Mr Seeley is an accountant, who was involved in the liquidation of Transtrade UK
Ltd. Having been a manager with Moores Rowland, he entered into a two-man
partnership with a Mr Richard Floyd at the end of 1989. The liquidation of
Transtrade was referred to them by Mr Evans, and in the course of it Mr Seeley met
Bane on two occasions. He recalls him as being a larger than life character, who
entertained him and Mr Evans on each of the two occasions to lunch at Simpsons in
the Strand. He was a generous and ebullient host, with a fund of interesting
anecdotes.
139.
Mr Seeley’s impression was that Bane always seemed in control of his affairs, and
was certainly competent to instruct his firm, to arrange for the transfer of his Bentley