Attacker had ‘sexual motive’
Viola Zaks was speaking in a television interview in Poland at her daughter’s graveside.
Catherine, 21 was beaten to death with a metal bar and dumped in a road-side ditch in Krakow on a trip to Poland.
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Hide AdA 45 year old bus driver has admitted attacking her and a panel of judges will decide, in September, whether the crime is to be treated as murder or manslaughter.
Viola Zaks said: “She was the last passenger on a late night bus, I believe he thought she was drunk and that he could have his way with her.
“He drove to a remote spot and locked the doors of the bus and turned the lights off.
“Catherine would have fought back.”
Catherine’s parents Greg and Viola are Polish born but lived in the Uk for 30 years and ran the post office at Staplecross.
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Hide AdSpeaking of her daughter, Viola said: “She was a person full or love and goodness,”
Greg Zaks said: “She was more than a daughter, she was a friend.”
The couple spoke of the support they have had from the Staplecross community commenting: “This has been essential in getting through this period.”
Krakow police chief Mariusz Ciarka said: “The investigation was swift. We arrested a suspect after four days.”
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Hide AdSpeaking in a Polish courtroom Greg Zaks called for his daughter’s killer to be made to pay £20,000 compensation.
He said the money would be used to fund a scholarship at Kent University, in Canterbury, where his daughter studied.
Catherine had gone to Poland on an internship with an art gallery.