The former girlfriend of Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov testified Tuesday before a jury that after kicking, and dragging her, he told her "if we were not in America, I could have killed you."
During the civil trial in Denver District Court, a sometimes tearful Evgeniya Vavrinyuk, testified through a Russian interpreter, that before the beating, she thought Varlamov was "the person that I wanted to make a family with."
Vavrinyuk filed the civil lawsuit in October 2014 claiming Varlamov had beaten her for years before his arrest in October 2013 on suspicion of felony kidnapping and assault. Prosecutors declined to file the kidnapping charge, and later dropped a misdemeanor assault charge against Varlamov.
Before the 2013 incident that led to his arrest, the couple argued during a Halloween party. Vavrinyuk said she didn't know enough English to communicate with others at the party and felt uncomfortable.
Varlamov was drinking and withdrawn during the party, and ignored her pleas to dance, or play a game, she said. Instead, he spent his time looking at pictures on his phone.
At one point, she realized he was angry and followed him to the men's room where they argued. "I wanted to fix the situation. It was not my goal to go to the men's bathroom and try to peek at someone," she said.
She left the party at about midnight and returned to the apartment they shared.
She went to sleep and Varlamov returned home at about 6 a.m.
He appeared drunk, she said, and his suit was torn, dirty, and spattered with small specks of blood.
"You say you are a star, you are a gatekeeper, but you look like an alcoholic," she said she told him.
After he poured water on the bed, and grabbed a blanket that she used to cover the wet spot so she could sleep, she tried to pull the blanket from him, she said.
"You were like a homeless dog, all my friends were saying what is wrong with your girlfriend," she said he told her.
She pushed him, and he kicked her in the chest, knocking her to the floor. When she tried to get up, he kneeled on her chest to keep her down, she testified.
After she got up and tried to push him out of the room, he grabbed her by the hair and dragged her. "I started kicking and screaming. I felt like my scalp was going to come off," she testified.
Following the incident she went back to bed, and when she got up at about 10 a.m., he was awake, sitting in the other room.
She went to school, but felt sick, and returned to the apartment to find him sleeping, she testified.
When he woke, she left.
She called a friend and told her what happened. The friend offered to go with her to the police and translate for her.
First they went to the law office of Robert Abrams, the friend's husband, she said. She spent the night at their home, and they went to the police the next day, she said.
The trial will continue Tuesday afternoon.
Vavrinyuk is suing Varlamov seeking an unspecified amount for medical costs and other damages.
