The husband of a woman whose body was found in a lake in Brandon has told her inquest that any suggestion he was responsible for her death was “complete nonsense”.
An inquest into the death of Eglė Vengalienė began on May 9. Mrs Vengalienė’s body was discovered in a lake in Brandon Country Park on April 9, 2021.
On Monday, May 15, her husband Andrius Vengalis gave evidence at the inquest.
Mr Vengalis, who had been married to Mrs Vengalienė for 19 years and shared five children with her, was arrested for her murder the same day her body was discovered.
After being detained for nine months, he was released without charge.
Speaking through a translator, Mr Vengalis told the court that the night before her death, he had arrived home from work at around 11.30pm.
He awoke briefly at 1am, and his wife told him that she was feeling unwell and was going to the bathroom.
When he next awoke between five and six o’clock in the morning, she was not in bed.
Mr Vengalis told the court he assumed that his wife had gone for an early morning run, which she did occasionally.
However, he grew concerned when he went out to the couple’s back garden and saw the back gate had been left unlocked, which was unusual. He then realised that all Mrs Vengalienė’s shoes had been left at home.
Mr Vengalis said he searched the house for his wife, but could not find her.
Mr Vengalis then decided to search the local park for his wife. Leaving his children, aged from four to 14, he began to walk first to a park in Heath Road.
However, he then walked back to the couple’s home in Bury Road to retrieve his car keys, before driving to the larger Brandon County Park a few minute's drive away.
The court heard that Mr Vengalis did not search the house again for his wife before leaving. He also said that he had not asked his eldest child, who was awake when he left initially, if he had seen his mother.
Vengalis also met his neighbour, Luke Strutt, in the shared alleyway between their houses when he went back to retrieve his key.
The court heard he did not tell Mr Strutt that his wife was missing.
When Mr Vengalis arrived at Brandon County Park, he said he briefly searched several of the footpaths, before seeing his wife’s body floating in the lake.
He entered the lake, pulled her body to shore and attempted to revive her.
Mr Vengalis said that he had been concerned for his wife’s mental health in the days leading up to her death.
Vengalis said that she had described “devils tearing her apart” and said she had “signed a contract with the devil”.
The presiding barrister Mr Hill ended the day’s proceedings by putting three possible explanations as to what had happened to Mr Vengalis.
The first, he said, was that Mrs Vengalienė had intentionally taken her own life, and deliberately injured herself.
The second was that she was “fleeing” the couple’s home and had either injured herself or had “been injured by” Mr Vengalis. She may then have fled to the park, become wet and sustained hypothermia, which would have caused her not to be thinking clearly. She may then have entered the water without meaning to take her own life, and subsequently died.
The final scenario, he said, was that Mrs Vengalienė had fled the couple’s home to Brandon Country Park, where she was found by Mr Vengalis.
He then said Mr Vengalis may have found her there, and “killed her by drowning”.
Mr Vengalis strenuously denied this and told the court any suggestion that he had ever harmed either his wife or his children was, he said, “complete nonsense.”
The inquest continues.
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