A TRAINEE scientist has denied looking at graphic pornography on the same day he is alleged to have murdered his partner and made sexual advances on an 11-year-old girl.

Elliot Furniss

A TRAINEE scientist has denied looking at graphic pornography on the same day he is alleged to have murdered his partner and made sexual advances on an 11-year-old girl.

Daniel Tambengwa, 30, was giving evidence yesterday his trial at Chelmsford Crown Court.

He has denied murdering his partner Ella Chimweta, from Zimbabwe, at their home in the Highwoods area of Colchester last July.

The court heard that while his partner was at work, Tambengwa, from Cameroon, downloaded several images from two websites at the flat they shared with an 11-year-old girl they were caring for.

After rowing later that evening, he is alleged to have killed his partner during a tussle, before leaving the country to return to Africa.

The badly decomposed body of Miss Chimweta was discovered in the flat by the young girl, who is believed to have been left alone in the property for a week.

It is unknown how she died but the court has been told Miss Chimweta's injuries were consistent with strangulation.

Taking the stand Tambengwa denied that he had intentionally visited the websites, which portrayed a man indulging in acts with a teenage girl, and said they were “pop ups” that he had tried to close down.

Prosecution barrister Richard Christie QC asked the defendant whether his partner had been aware that he had been looking at such websites with the young girl in the flat and whether they had rowed about it later that day.

Tambengwa said: “The pages were pop ups. Prior to looking at that site I was looking for jobs and post graduate courses. I spent less than a minute - it was seconds.”

He said Miss Chimweta did not know and would have been “upset” if she had, but that they had watched other pornography together in the past.

Mr Christie then asked him: “Were you fantasising about such encounters?” Tambengwa replied: “No.”

The trial has previously heard evidence from the young girl, from Zimbabwe, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

She told the court that Tambengwa had tried to make her watch a pornographic film and tried to engage her in sexual activity - allegations he has denied.

The court also heard that the defendant entered the UK “illegally” on a fake Belgian passport and had just completed a degree in bio-medical science when the alleged murder took place.

The trial continues today.