When A.J. Dziura heard a loud, thumping noise upstairs in the Mississauga home he shared with murder suspect Rafal LaSota, he didn’t call 911.

The stocky construction worker also didn’t investigate for himself what was causing the alarming sound from LaSota’s bedroom, Brampton court heard Wednesday.

Instead, Dziura bolted into the winter’s cold wearing just shorts and a T-shirt. He grabbed a ceremonial sword from the garage and hid out there, ordering two women — his common-law wife and LaSota’s ex-lover, Michelle Liard — to go inside and investigate. “I was scared, freaked out,” he said in a soft voice.

LaSota, 28, and Liard, 21, are charged with first-degree murder in the death of Grade 8 student Aleksandra Firgan-Hewie, 13, whose body was found on Dec. 11, 2008, in LaSota’s backyard in two garbage bags. She had suffered 37 stab wounds and 27 blunt force trauma wounds.

Dziura said he was sleeping in his downstairs apartment when the loud banging noise woke him up.

After going to the garage with the sword, Dziura said he eventually fled to his Jeep and drove away before returning to pick up his common-law wife, Monika LaSota, who is LaSota’s older sister.

Dziura said he didn’t drive too far before he decided he should go back and let her into the Jeep.

They drove to a police station but never went inside, he testified.

Instead, they went to a Tim Hortons and waited for LaSota’s mother to get off work and confront her son, he said.

LaSota’s lawyer, Gary Grill, noted that Dziura has known LaSota for more than a dozen years.

“Do you love him?” Grill asked.

“Yeah, he was almost like family to me, so yeah,” Dziura replied.

The trial continues.

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