Island business owner and former Calbourne parish Councillor, Jonathan Kovacik has been jailed for 21 months this week after being found guilty of shooting 21-year-old Shanklin sex worker Rose Pitcher just 4 days before Christmas when she ended their ‘open’ relationship.
Kovacik, 58 of North Road, Shanklin, was sentenced at Portsmouth Crown Court today (Tuesday) after being found guilty by a jury of possession of an air gun with intent to cause fear of violence, inflicting grievous bodily harm and having a bladed article in a public place. The jury cleared Kovacik of a further charge of possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.
The 6-day trial heard how the 58-year-old shot mother-of-one Rosalynde Pitcher at her Shanklin home with a Walther CP88 competition air pistol on 20th December 2014 when she ended their relationship, just after Kovacik paid £6,000 towards breast enhancement surgery to take the then A-cup Rose to a D-cup. The wealthy businessman, who owns a car rental company and two farms, is also said to have bought her a car and several gifts.
Although Pitcher has described the relationship as ‘open’ and ‘friends with benefits’, Kovacik offered £50,000 for her to quit working as a sex worker, to quit drugs and to be with him.
The pair met on the website adultwork.com before starting a relationship in September 2014.
The court heard how when Miss Pitcher found out she was pregnant, her father Lee Pitcher attacked Kovacik believing him to be the father, however the 58-year-old businessman did not believe he was the dad and in a downwards spiral of depression closed down his money trading options with a loss of £2.4million and intended to kill himself.
Jonathan Kovacik – also known as Franco – told the court he had been through a stressful period in his life after being left with a £108,000 bill from the Inland Revenue and having to move out of his home after flooding.
After barricading himself indoors for several days and attempting to take his own life, he went to visit Rose despite fear that her father would be there to harm him, or even kill him, and in self defense took a diver’s knife and an air pistol.
The shooting happened when Kovacik was let into Miss Pitcher’s flat after he knocked on the door and asked to come in, claiming he only had only ‘a few months to live’. The pair are said to have walked into the lounge when Kovacik then believed Mr Pitcher was in the bathroom and in a ‘blind panic’, Kovacik pulled out the air pistol and pointed it at Rose, before she dropped to her knees and he placed the gun directly to her head.
Kovacik told the court room how voices in his head screamed ‘get out of here’ to him and that he does not remember shooting Miss Pitcher. The man in the bathroom was not Miss Pitcher’s father.
Rose described to the Crown Court:
“He took the gun to my head and shot the gun. I was expecting to be dead. I thought I was going to die, but nothing happened and I didn’t feel anything.
“He looked very shocked after that and then he started hitting me over the head with the gun.”
After the terrifying ordeal, the 21-year-old was able to escape via a back door and alert Police.
Just hours after the attack, Kovacik was arrested by armed police at Three Gates Road in Cowes during a standoff after he phoned Police. Kovacick has said he hoped Police would shoot him to end his life. He was taken into custody and later remanded.
At the time of Kovacik’s arrest it wasn’t known that Miss Pitcher had been shot, but examination at hospital around a week later revealed a pellet under her skin by her temple.
Kovacik denied all the charges and said he was mentally unwell at the time of the attack and suffering from temporary insanity. During his time in custody he had been placed on anti-depressants.
Judge Rodger Hetherington said in sentencing Kovacik to 21 months in prison:
“It seems that you have become besotted with your relationship you have formed with this young woman.
“She had her own agenda and I think to an extent you were taken in by her. But I accept that you genuinely did believe that the two of you were in a loving relationship which unfortunately appears to have come to an end in the middle of December”.
A restraining order has been passed down to Kovacik preventing him from contacting Pitcher. He must also pay £2000 in costs over the next 6 months.
Featured Photograph: Hampshire Constabulary
