The Murder Of Naomi Hersi: Beauty and the Beast - True Crime Documentary
In-depth true crime documentary investigating the murder of 36-year-old Afro-Muslim, Transgender woman and model Naomi Hersi, who was discovered viscously stabbed to death inside the bathroom of a seedy hotel on Sunday March 18, 2018 in London, England.
Police are called, and as Inspector Graham McKenzie begins his investigation into this hateful murder it was revealed that Naomi Hersi was last seen with University dropout and boxer 25-year-old Cisgender White man Jesse “The Beast” McDonald. As Inspector Graham McKenzie begins his investigation, what he discovers is the tale of an online meeting, that turned into a premeditated torturous attack on Naomi Hersi she never saw coming.
Police are called, and as Inspector Graham McKenzie begins his investigation into this hateful murder it was revealed that Naomi Hersi was last seen with University dropout and boxer 25-year-old Cisgender White man Jesse “The Beast” McDonald. As Inspector Graham McKenzie begins his investigation, what he discovers is the tale of an online meeting, that turned into a premeditated torturous attack on Naomi Hersi she never saw coming.
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TVTranscript
00:00Hello. Hello, is that Jesse? Hi. Hi there, my name's Peter, I'm from the police station
00:15in Hayward Teeth. How are you today? Not bad, thank you. How are you? Um, a little bit concerned
00:20to be honest with you. Have you contacted your parents? Yeah, what's the problem? I
00:25don't understand. Well, they've told me some things that have raised some concern for your
00:29welfare. They also said that you'd hurt another man, is that right? I'd prefer not to tell
00:36you about what happened. It's 9pm and the Metropolitan Police are investigating reports
00:44of an attack. What happened, Jesse? What happened at that house? The man came back to mine to
00:51rob me, you know. Jesse, where is he now? Do you know, to be honest, I haven't reached him. What,
01:00he's still in your room? Pretty much, yeah. The man on the phone is 25-year-old Jesse
01:06MacDonald. He has been living at a hotel in West London for nine months. It's a transient hotel,
01:14you've got loads of people staying there, however, Jesse was probably more of a regular resident
01:20there. He came to an agreement with the hotel manager that he could have a longer-term deal
01:27to stay in an annex in the garden, which is one room, one bedroom, with a tiny bathroom. Jesse,
01:35this is really important. I'm with my girlfriend. Jesse, what's your girlfriend's name? Her name's
01:41Natalia. Natalia, what's her surname? Dalkowska. Natalia Dalkowska is originally from Poland,
01:51but her family moved to Wiltshire and she seems to have had a very sheltered, wholesome upbringing.
02:00She met MacDonald online and she very quickly became quite enamoured by him. In fact,
02:10she was quite sort of spellbound by him in many ways. Where is the male now that you've said
02:16that you've hurt? All I know is that I had a very hard week and I didn't want to kill anyone.
02:21Can you tell me where he is so that we can go and have a look? The bathroom door is closed,
02:29because I've had a nap. So is he in the bathroom? He's in the bathroom. Jesse,
02:34you're going to need to tell me where you're at, where he's at. I'm not going to tell you
02:38until I'm home in 30 minutes. Jesse refuses to tell where he is and he says, I'll phone you back
02:44later that afternoon, but he never does. Police need to establish where Jesse is and if someone
02:51has been seriously hurt or worse. Twelve hours later, a call comes through from the manager of
03:00the hotel where Jesse has been staying. Hello police, what's the emergency? One of my tenants
03:08who's staying in the back flat, he said he had a fight with somebody and then he clearly told me
03:14he killed him. So your tenant, what's his name? His name is Jesse. Officers hurry to the hotel.
03:23Where is this from then? Can you show us where it is? Can I have the key please? Police! There
03:39is a body. Yeah, we've got a body in the bathroom. Yeah, we've got a mortise as well. He's staying
03:46cold. Can you show life pronounced extinct? 11, 20 hours. The crime scene is cordoned off
03:54and the cause of death confirmed. There's approximately six or seven stab wounds.
04:03A driver's license is discovered just meters from the body. It reveals the victim's identity,
04:12a 36 year old Somalian male named Hersi Hersi. A manhunt is underway to find Jesse and his
04:22girlfriend Natalia. The couple are identified on CCTV, fleeing the hotel in the middle of the
04:41night. Where do we find Jesse? We can't track his phone for some reason, but we know his girlfriend
04:48has a phone. So we trace her phone and we track it to the hotel in Teddington. So that's when
04:56officers attend. As they're in the reception area, they see Jesse and Natalia walking down
05:04the stairs and go through a rear exit and they've intercepted him and they're arrested for murder.
05:08I've just fought a six or seven hour fight for my life. I promise you that fight, I couldn't,
05:16one of us was going to come out and talk about it. I acted 100% in self-defence. We have a dead
05:27body. We have an alleged victim, which is Jesse, claiming that he was acting in self-defence.
05:33Jesse Macdonald and Natalia Dalkowska are taken to separate police stations in London.
05:48Jesse, you do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention,
05:55when questioned, something which relates to a line in court. Do you know the person that's
06:01been killed? No comment. Jesse, you are arrested for murder, okay? Have you and Jesse murdered this
06:09man? No comment. Police examine Hersey's social media profiles and discover he has an alternative
06:18identity as a transgender woman called Naomi. The person that died was transgender and was
06:30known as Naomi to her people. Did you know she was transgender? Sorry, but that's what I thought,
06:38yes. Your first thought when you hear that the victim is a transgender woman is that possible
06:44hate crime. Naomi Hersey's last message on Twitter was about violence towards transgender women,
06:54saying trans women of colour face an epidemic of violence and murder. Little did she know that
07:03she was going to become a victim of it herself. The violence came from her. I did not start the
07:11violence. It's the 18th of March 2018. The body of transgender woman Naomi Hersey has been found
07:26in the bathroom of a hotel near Heathrow Airport. No one deserves to die like that.
07:43I wish I could have been there for him. On the 15th of October 1981, Hersey Mohammed Hersey,
07:56known to some as Naomi, was born to a large Muslim family in northwest London. We are Somali
08:04and my brother Hersey was fourth youngest. I'm the youngest and I have ten brothers and sisters.
08:14The house was always you know hustling and bustling. I enjoyed growing up in a busy household. Yeah,
08:21it was fun. Of all his siblings, Hersey was closest to his youngest sister Amina and would
08:28often confide in her. He was very honest with me. He said that he would dress up sometimes and that
08:36he felt feminine at the time and that it was fun for a few hours. But it might be that I'm his little
08:44sister and maybe there are some things that he doesn't want to tell me. Neighbour and friend
08:51Gerson became acquainted with Hersey's other side. Whenever I've asked him when am I gonna
08:58see Naomi and then he says no Naomi comes out on the night time and a few times he sent me
09:05pictures. Naomi looked like a model. Long dark hair, very sexy looking makeup and had sexy
09:18clothing. Nails are done with white and little diamonds on them. I'd never known him as Naomi.
09:27That was never a side of him that I ever saw. He never asked me to call him Naomi and he never
09:33asked me to call him she. Hersey's gender dysphoria began to confuse him and he became unsettled. He
09:42found it really hard to like keep down a job and at times I'm sure that he encountered like blatant
09:51like discrimination. I think it really got him down. He was that type of a person that he would
09:59keep any problem to himself. When he moved from here I've lost contact. In 2017 Hersey moved away
10:11to Mill Hill in northwest London and began spending more time as Naomi. But by being
10:17isolated from friends and family depression set in. I think when Hersey became really depressed
10:26that drugs was another way for him to escape. I think that that's what led him down the dark
10:34spiral. He started to contact us less and less. Also just being seen more angry. The last time
10:46he messaged me pretty much told me to never talk to him again. The day that he probably died I was
10:53going to call him. I was hovering over his number and I didn't press it. I regret that.
10:59Now it is your interview. It's recording now. Okay. A 25 year old man Jesse McDonald and his
11:1317 year old girlfriend Natalia Dukowska are in police custody being questioned on suspicion
11:19of Naomi's murder. Has Jesse told you what happened to this man? Not a comment. Have you
11:25seen him? Not a comment. Police need to establish how Naomi ended up dead in Jesse's hotel bathroom.
11:31The best way to start is from the beginning. Jesse McDonald was an only child and grew up in
11:40West Sussex where he excelled at school and sports. He was bright and quite gifted. He was
11:49a talented tennis player and played tennis at a county level. Were you good at tennis? Yeah,
11:55that was one of my things. But I got injured in every tennis injury you can imagine. I still
12:05suffer from it today. These injuries scuppered Jesse's dreams of becoming a tennis professional.
12:11So he stayed in education and enrolled at the London School of Economics on a history degree.
12:17It's an incredibly difficult university to get into. It's very prestigious and in 2014
12:25something happened and he dropped out. After quitting his history course Jesse sought out
12:33a fresh start and ended up living in West London. So this is the hotel where Jesse McDonald lived,
12:42just behind where the end of the Heathrow runway is. So really Jesse McDonald was living in many
12:53ways at the end of the line. This hotel annex is where Jesse turned to the dark web to make money.
13:01He set up quite a sophisticated drug dealing business online with spreadsheets and menus
13:09for customers and really it was somewhere like this that he found he could disappear and fall
13:16under the radar. I wasn't going to be a lifetime criminal or something. It was more a question of
13:23the people I, you know, I met and I wanted to just, it worked and it was quite enjoyable.
13:29Jesse began to self-medicate and became addicted to painkillers he sourced illegally on the internet.
13:35Jesse McDonald pretty much lived on his computer. He did most of his drug dealings online and he met
13:44people on dating websites. I met my new girlfriend on an app, you know, and it's been an absolute
13:52blessing to be honest. But this relationship wasn't enough for Jesse and unbeknownst to Natalia,
13:58he had other interests. McDonald spent the weekend with his girlfriend Natalia in Wiltshire
14:06and he got back into his car after having what he said was a three-hour long sex session with her
14:13and drove all the way back to his lodgings. Within 40 minutes of arriving back to his annex,
14:21Jesse logged on to fabswingers.com, posting that he wanted edgy, risky sex.
14:28While searching the site, he came across Naomi's profile.
14:33What we know about Naomi Hersey is that she was into meeting guys online and inviting them around
14:43for sex. Did you know she was transgender? Yeah, on her profile she says she's transgender.
14:51How would you describe Jesse's sexual orientation?
14:55What were you hoping to get out of that meeting then? I don't know, I think maybe just,
15:01just widen my sexual experience in terms of, so that I had a more open mind of other people
15:13almost. Do you know if he has any relationships outside your relationship?
15:22It was a spontaneous decision on that Monday, I was in a bit of a sort of strange headspace and
15:27it was quite horny, you know. I didn't have any pants on, I was dressed for a 30-minute meet,
15:34you know, I really didn't intend to be there more than 30 minutes.
15:40After an hour in the car, Jesse arrives at Naomi's flat in North West London.
15:46I went to the door and then the person that opened it wasn't dressed, so it looked more
15:54like a man, to be honest. I really, really, really, really, really, really nearly left.
16:02One of the neighbours noticed that he wasn't her usual type, he was younger and less aggressive
16:11looking than the kind of man that Naomi would usually have around. What's happened next?
16:20Well, I was offered a drink and I believe I had an orange juice. Orange juice. And,
16:28well, I just started to feel quite tipsy.
16:33Jesse claims that the orange juice was spiked with GHB, known as a date rape drug.
16:39Dawned on me that I had lost control of being able to get out of the situation.
16:45She just told me to bend over, basically, to suck her cock.
16:52He admits to giving oral sex to Naomi, but then he blanks out.
16:59And then on Tuesday morning, you wake up on the sofa, is that right?
17:03Yes. And you said you're laying on a duvet,
17:07with a duvet over you, pillow, so somebody's made a comfortable bed for you.
17:15Is your relationship with Jesse what you could describe as an open relationship?
17:19No comment. Do you share partners?
17:21No comment.
17:22Darkoska was completely in the dark. She sent him messages and phoned him, but he ignored her
17:30and she doesn't know what's going on.
17:32What's happened then? Have you tried to leave or...?
17:35No, as I said, I just felt we ended up smoking the crystal meth.
17:42Is that a drug you...?
17:43Never tried it in my life.
17:44Never had it before?
17:45Allegedly, he'd never used crystal meth before,
17:48but he was given crystal meth for the first time and it was very controlling,
17:51and it's a very, very addictive drug.
17:53She was quite aggressive in saying, well, just give it a try, you know, and it just went, I did.
18:00What made you feel like that you just couldn't, could not leave that flat?
18:04I feel like it was something to do with the drugs.
18:07I became numb and a shadow of myself or something. I became a victim.
18:13I remember in the evening, I think, being bound, bent over and bum raped, basically.
18:19MacDonald had claimed that he'd been held captive by Naomi,
18:25that she'd kept him at her flat, drugged him, that he'd been raped.
18:30You're a man in his 20s.
18:33Yeah.
18:34You've got somebody here who's a bit feminine.
18:39No, not in any way.
18:41Acting extremely masculine and domineering and aggressive with me.
18:45He said he was coerced. He was a bit like a zombie.
18:50He was a childlike kind of person who was under control,
18:54but at some point, they went to the shops together, which really is a little bit confusing.
18:59CCTV captures the pair out in public on the Wednesday.
19:04Despite claiming to be under duress, Jesse appears relaxed with Naomi.
19:10There was a wealth of CCTV in this matter,
19:13and that revealed that MacDonald and Naomi had actually been shopping together.
19:17You can see how intimidated I felt just by watching me.
19:20I don't know why, but I felt it was hard to escape,
19:25even though it shouldn't have been.
19:27You've got to remember this is somebody who claimed that he'd been held captive,
19:30drugged and raped, but at no stage does he attempt to raise any alarm anywhere,
19:35to free himself, to use a phone.
19:39So clearly, we're able to rebut the suggestion that this intelligent young man
19:45had no means of escape.
19:48Despite multiple opportunities to seek help and flee,
19:52Jesse has now spent three days with Naomi.
19:55One of Naomi's neighbours noticed that MacDonald's BMW
20:00had been parked outside the flats for three days,
20:03and she found it rather unusual,
20:05because usually, her visitors would only stay for half an hour,
20:09certainly not the night, and definitely not three days.
20:12In that time, Darkowska tried to contact her boyfriend repeatedly.
20:18Jesse finally responds to her 17-year-old girlfriend, Natalia.
20:24Jess, I'm sorry, all OK.
20:26I'll call you later and explain, and signs off with a kiss.
20:30But clearly, he hasn't explained what he's been up to.
20:36By Thursday, she was saying that I owed money for the drugs.
20:40That was what I was being told.
20:42I was being told that I owed money for the drugs.
20:44MacDonald had claimed Naomi had then forced him to take her
20:48to where he was staying, a hotel annex.
20:50Jesse's thought that was an opportunity for him to escape.
20:53This is Jesse's version of events.
20:55And in a zombie-like state, he's driven his car from Mill Hill to Hounslow.
21:03It felt like there was an end, an end was in sight,
21:06because at the end of the day, I was going back to my home.
21:08I was going to give her £80, yeah, and then I was going to drive her back.
21:17When MacDonald and Naomi arrive at the hotel, they're captured on CCTV.
21:22And that is the last time Naomi is ever seen alive.
21:26On the Thursday, Jesse claims he was forced to take Naomi back
21:30to his hotel annex in West London to give her the money he owed her.
21:36But the following morning, Naomi has still not left the annex.
21:41I gave her the money that we had, that she had given me.
21:46I didn't want to give her the money,
21:49because she might have let me go.
21:51You know how much they got from you.
21:55She thinking, well, I'm after my mother,
21:57I can't have her, I'm after my father.
22:02I gave her the money that we had agreed, okay?
22:06It's 80 pounds. I took it back, you know, but she wouldn't leave.
22:13Jesse insists that Naomi continue to coerce him.
22:17So now, on your premises, and you're still feeling the same way.
22:23Exactly, but I took, I felt a little bit different in that I had a little bit more
22:29control and that's when I tried with the Xanax and in the Mao Mao suite.
22:36What is Xanax?
22:37It's a sedative in some way. I thought that this would subdue her and she, we could leave
22:45out of the building without disturbing anyone else with the 80 pounds and I could drive
22:51her home.
22:52Okay.
22:53He's put some Xanax in a Mao Mao suite and he claims that he's given it to Naomi to try
22:59and drug her.
23:01What were you going to do, Jesse? Were you going to say, oh, here, have this suite?
23:05I gave it to her like that, said take this suite.
23:07And she took it?
23:09She took it, yeah.
23:10And ate it?
23:11Yeah, but she didn't actually. She had somehow managed to dispose of it and make it look
23:17like she'd eaten it.
23:20Despite claiming to be under duress, Jesse walks freely around the hotel and doesn't
23:26raise an alarm or ask anyone for help.
23:30Goes to the reception, makes two drinks, one for himself and one for Naomi. But he claims
23:39that he put drugs in Naomi's.
23:43I made a smoothie. I put Xanax in it.
23:47What else did you put in it?
23:50Lots of fruit, that sort of thing. Xanax in a smoothie.
23:56Jesse returns to his room with the two drinks. And he is not seen again for several hours.
24:07Six hours later, he emerges and contacts Natalia.
24:14Jesse said, I need you to help me. And then there's a series of text messages, phone calls
24:18between both of them.
24:19This is the first time he's giving away any detail of what's actually going on in that
24:26room. He says, I don't know. Give him loads of acid or something that will make him harmless.
24:34This guy is so strange. Going to call an ambulance, I think. Try to wake him up. Literally seems
24:43dead.
24:45He's setting up an alternative reality to make her believe his version of events.
24:54At around 1.30pm, Natalia can be seen entering the annex.
25:00She sees what's happened. She then goes again and buys cleaning material and comes back
25:06and helps him.
25:07Did you want to help him?
25:10No, I'm on it.
25:12Have you and Jesse murdered this man?
25:15No, I can't mate.
25:16They were there for six, maybe eight hours, trying to clean up the place and the place
25:21was an absolute mess. So we're just piling clothes into bin bags and piling them up.
25:26They didn't know what to do. Just didn't know what to do.
25:29Well, I don't think it's speculation to say that they gave up after a few hours because
25:32that's what they did. They'd left behind black bags containing blood-soaked items and effectively
25:40fled the premises.
25:41The couple leave the hotel with bags containing Jesse's possessions. Minutes later, he calls
25:50his mother, explaining he has been held captive. Concerned for her son's welfare, she phones
25:56the police, who then contact Jesse.
25:59I've heard some things that may or may not have happened.
26:03It's not something I can tell you about right now because it's something that I need to
26:08take time to reflect on.
26:12Jesse, they also said that you'd hurt another man. Is that right?
26:16It's all very well to use the word hurt, but that's not some of the right word to use.
26:21Well, what's the right word to use?
26:23The right word to use would be defence.
26:28The next morning, the hotel manager calls 999.
26:33One of my tenants who's staying in the back flat, his name is Jesse. He said he had a
26:39fight with somebody.
26:41Where is this room?
26:42Police swoop in.
26:43Police!
26:45And find Naomi's body in the bathroom.
26:50Her pink headband is discovered on the floor. Her jacket is left on the bed and traces of
26:57her wig are scattered around the room.
26:59From what I've seen, there was widespread bloodstaining on both the bedroom and the bathroom.
27:03The bedroom, there was bloodstaining on the wall and the head of the bed from Naomi Hersey
27:08that Jesse had attempted to wash off.
27:12It is clear someone has tried to clean the crime scene.
27:17Were you helping Jesse after he's killed this man?
27:21No comment.
27:23Have you assisted Jesse in disposing of any evidence?
27:27No comment.
27:28We had strong and compelling evidence of her removing items of forensic value from the
27:36hotel room and we had compelling evidence of her DNA on the marigolds that she'd purchased.
27:41She could have alerted the police, she could have refused to assist him, but instead she
27:45stayed, she helped him.
27:48The suspects have been in custody for 12 hours.
27:52They could be released without charge if the detectives cannot compile enough evidence.
27:58We're against the clock.
27:59We only can hold him for up to 24 hours without an extension from the superintendent.
28:04How can I get the case over the line?
28:06Is there enough evidence?
28:07Just on the initial assessment, does his story hold up?
28:10And all these things I'm thinking about multiple times and in my little head, my little jigsaw,
28:15I'm trying to put these little pieces together.
28:17I did not start the violence.
28:21McDonald claimed from the outset he had acted in self-defence and in murder cases, self-defence
28:28is a defence.
28:29So I had to look very carefully at all the evidence to rebut or disprove that defence.
28:38I was offered a drink and I know that the person in question was into the GHB and I
28:45feel like that drink was spiked.
28:47Jesse's claims that Naomi spiked his drink with a date rape drug are disputed.
28:52We were able to get a toxicologist's report to confirm that no date rape drug had been used.
28:58So you've started small crystal meth, is that something, is that a drug you...
29:02Never tried it in my life.
29:03Never had it before?
29:04Jesse's denial that he had never used crystal meth before is also disputed.
29:09We were able to send hair samples from him which revealed that in fact he'd been using
29:14crystal meth himself for up to four months prior to the murder.
29:17His argument that he'd never used crystal meth, rubbish.
29:21Absolute rubbish and that was actually damning for him.
29:24But what was most damning was Naomi's post-mortem results which showed significant injuries.
29:31Jesse claims Naomi attacked him after she realised he had tried to drug her.
29:37What happened then, Jesse?
29:40She was saying about facing off, you know, and...
29:44What do you mean by facing off?
29:46She said, well, would you face me off?
29:48She posed the question.
29:50What does that mean?
29:51I said, you're not taking my things.
29:53Right.
29:54You know, I said in a forceful way, you're not taking my things.
29:57Yeah, you're not having them.
29:58This is how it's going to go today.
30:00The problem was, is that I didn't expect it to go from zero to 100.
30:05And the violence came from her.
30:08Donald claimed that he had acted in self-defence
30:12and that Naomi had attempted to throttle him.
30:17I think he described it as she'd got him in a death grip
30:20and that everything he did following that was in self-defence.
30:24It felt so strong, I was up against the wall
30:27and my hand, I could go down the side of the bed
30:31because I'm sure that's where the beer bottle I got it from.
30:34We think the initial attack site took place in a bed
30:37where he smashed a glass object on her face.
30:41I smashed a bottle over the head and then went like that
30:44or something like that up into her neck.
30:46And do you remember cutting her neck with the glass bottle?
30:50I remember the glass going into her neck
30:53and I seeing the piece of glass like this.
30:56You see what I mean?
30:57She went for me.
31:00Went for me big time.
31:02We went tossing and turning over the room.
31:05I was losing the control.
31:07That's when we headed to the bathroom.
31:09Fight ended up into the bathroom.
31:12We know there has been a fight in there
31:15because there's blood smeared on the floor and the wall.
31:18Is that where you stabbed her?
31:20That's where ultimately I stabbed her.
31:22Do you know how many times you stabbed her?
31:25I tried to stab her.
31:28When I stabbed her, I was surprised at how little effect it had.
31:33How she seemed to not...
31:35It seemed to not do anything to her but make her more angry almost
31:39for the first few times.
31:41And that's when Aimee dies in the bathroom.
31:44I feel like I could have been in so much of a crazed state of,
31:49oh, my God, why did you do this to me in my room?
31:52Why did you make... Why have you created this whole drama for my life?
31:56And I feel like I could have easily, in that state, made...
32:01..of actually harmed...
32:04..harmed her...
32:06Jessie? ..her dead carcass.
32:09The fact that he described Naomi as a dead carcass
32:12speaks volumes about his attitude towards what happened.
32:15In his head, he's killed somebody,
32:18but in his head, he doesn't think he's committed murder.
32:21Jessie maintains he killed Naomi in self-defence,
32:24but the pathologist's findings suggest otherwise.
32:30There's a distinct lack of defence wounds on the victim.
32:35What it means when someone says there's a lack of defence wounds
32:39means that whoever has killed her
32:42or whoever has inflicted the wounds on her, right,
32:46she hasn't fought back very much.
32:48Yes, she has.
32:49If he was in a fight and there was a knife being used,
32:53potentially there will be self-defence wounds on him as well.
32:57He had a few cuts and brazes.
32:59I do have bruises on me.
33:01I was punched, for sure.
33:03I was kicked hard. I was...
33:06Sorry, the tape's about to... The tape is about to...
33:10The lack of defence wounds on Naomi's body
33:13is yet more evidence suggesting
33:15Jessie may not be telling the truth.
33:19Naomi suffered 19 injuries, including 11 stab wounds,
33:23seven of which were concentrated in the front of the chest
33:26to a depth of nine centimetres.
33:28That's a significant amount of power in there.
33:31There were 29 areas of injury to the head and neck alone.
33:38He had cuts all over his face.
33:41Like little straight lines down his cheeks,
33:45across his forehead.
33:48And I remember thinking, like,
33:50who has time to be that cruel?
33:53That's a lot of violence.
33:56That's not self-defence.
33:58No way self-defence.
34:01That's an angry man.
34:03We heard that he may have already been on the floor
34:07when he was stabbed continuously.
34:11There were marks on the floor
34:13that showed he was attacked while he was lying there.
34:18The amount of blood in the crime scene,
34:22the blood on the walls, on the door,
34:25on the floor, everywhere.
34:28You just wonder how much horror
34:33happened in that room.
34:35It was a frenzied attack.
34:37It was a mindless attack on a helpless person.
34:45Naomi didn't stand a chance at all.
34:47Didn't stand a chance.
34:53Guys, can we take a break?
34:56The fight had moved to life or death.
35:00One of us was going to go.
35:02Jesse's claim he acted in self-defence is undermined.
35:06He is formally charged with Naomi's murder.
35:09Has Jesse killed this man?
35:11No comment.
35:12Has he told you that he has?
35:14No comment.
35:15The police must now determine Natalia's involvement
35:19and whether she too will face trial for murder.
35:22I called Natalia for the first time
35:24and I told her what had happened.
35:26Did you get Natalia?
35:28No, I should have.
35:32I called Natalia because that's the person I love
35:36and I can't believe I even brought her to the scene.
35:43I really can't.
35:45Were you helping Jesse after he's killed this man?
35:49No comment.
35:59Police!
36:01Oh, no, there is. There is a body.
36:03Jesse Macdonald has been charged
36:05with the murder of transgender woman Naomi Hersey.
36:11Almost 24 hours since arrest,
36:13time is running out for police
36:15to charge his 17-year-old girlfriend, Natalia Darkowska.
36:19Were you helping Jesse after he's killed this man?
36:24No comment.
36:25With Miss Darkowska, I mean,
36:27we had strong and compelling evidence of her removing items
36:31of forensic value from the hotel room
36:34and we had compelling evidence of her DNA
36:37on the marigolds that she purchased.
36:39She could have alerted the police,
36:41she could have refused to assist him,
36:43but instead she stayed, she helped him,
36:45she attempted to remove evidence
36:47and then went with him to another place.
36:50When presented with the evidence against her,
36:53Natalia continues to reply no comments throughout the interview.
36:56Is there anything else you want to add or clarify
36:58about what we've asked you?
37:00No comment.
37:01For attempting to clean up the crime scene with Jesse,
37:04Natalia is charged with perverting the course of justice.
37:07Both will now face trial at the Old Bailey.
37:14It's always good to have a trial at the Old Bailey
37:17because it's this sense of,
37:21you've done bad, you're in a big house now,
37:24you will face justice.
37:28In front of Naomi's friends and family,
37:31both the defendants plead not guilty to their charges.
37:35We had to sit and watch Jesse and Natalia in the dock every day.
37:42Jesse would spend most of the time smirking
37:45and he would canoodle with Natalia,
37:48he would play with her hair, he would whisper in her ear,
37:52they would be all cuddling up and that.
37:56Jesse maintains he killed Naomi in self-defence.
38:00He was very controlling, very manipulative, very argumentative.
38:04If it's not his way, it's nobody's way.
38:08You had to listen to the defence trash.
38:12My brother trashed his memory.
38:15You can't say a word back.
38:17He was trying to paint a picture of him
38:20basically being abducted and held captive.
38:23We were able to take each and every aspect of his defence apart
38:28and show that actually he was lying.
38:31Jesse's story of Naomi being violent towards him
38:35doesn't ring true to the people closest to her.
38:38Knowing Hersey, what kind of person he was, he's not a violent person.
38:44So that's a bit puzzled there.
38:47There was something about the way he attacked Hersey
38:52that made it feel personal,
38:55which is odd because they only knew each other for four days.
38:59How personal can it get?
39:01The jury has shown police bodycam footage of Jesse's arrest,
39:05which could reveal his motive.
39:07I probably got given HIV so many times during those few days anyway.
39:12I had fought with the person who laughed in my face
39:16and told me they had given me HIV.
39:18One thing that Jesse did mention was that our victim was HIV.
39:23And that's when I realised that I was HIV positive.
39:28Our victim was HIV.
39:30But it was low-grade HIV, so he was not transmittable.
39:34There was nothing to support that he was given HIV.
39:37I'm very paranoid about HIV.
39:39I grew up with a boy whose mum passed away with HIV
39:43and it's always been a pet fear of mine.
39:46So it brings out extreme emotions in me.
39:50After a six-week trial,
39:52it is now down to the jury to consider their verdict.
40:00I was very nervous.
40:04The jury, I felt like it could have gone either way.
40:08They spent a long time, longer than expected, deciding.
40:11The judge had to give them a majority verdict
40:14because they couldn't agree.
40:16And that, to me, was a bad sign.
40:19Nobody knows for sure how the verdict is going to come out,
40:24no matter how devastating the evidence.
40:27You can never be quite sure what's going to happen.
40:32It's extremely tense and the jury come in
40:36and it's silent in court.
40:38The forelady got up and she said that he was guilty.
40:43I went, yes!
40:45And they said, like, well, no, I'm supposed to be...
40:47I'm the gaffer. I'm not supposed to be doing that.
40:50When I heard that G...
40:55..I did a backflip on the inside.
40:58Jessie MacDonald was found guilty of murder
41:01and was sentenced to life in prison.
41:03He was punching the wall
41:05as if it came to some sort of surprise to him
41:08that he was found guilty for murdering someone.
41:12Natalia Darkowska was found guilty of perverting the court of justice.
41:17She received a suspended sentence
41:19and was ordered to do 150 hours of unpaid work.
41:24I thought I was going to die.
41:26I thought I was going to die.
41:29I thought that maybe she would...
41:33..not stand by him, but she didn't.
41:35She stood by him.
41:37She's guilty of perverting the courts of justice,
41:40but she's also allowed to walk free.
41:42I don't understand.
41:44I think Natalia is a victim in this to a certain extent
41:47because she's been dragged into this.
41:49She is naive. It's a harsh lesson to be learning,
41:52especially when someone's died,
41:54but I don't think she'll do that again.
41:57Despite justice being served,
41:59Naomi's loved ones continue to mourn their loss.
42:04We'll never get to see my brother again.
42:07We'll never get to speak to him or hug him.
42:12That's the part that's really hard to come to terms with.
42:18Every time I walk past Pompidou's court,
42:21I'll remember Hersey.
42:24I can picture him here, playing his tennis.
42:27I wish Hersey was here, right now.
42:33In 2018, there were almost 400 trans and gender-diverse murders
42:38reported across the world.
42:40Naomi's death has brought positive change to the way
42:43that victims in these cases are treated.
42:46Hersey is one of them.
42:49In the past, we've been criticised for some of the work that we've done
42:52and how we've operated and how the language we've used.
42:55However, on this occasion,
42:57taking aboard all the expert advice that we got from the advisory group,
43:01we got it right. They've told us we've got it right,
43:04and I'm proud of that.
43:06A year after Naomi's murder,
43:08a new case has been opened for the first time
43:11in the history of trans and gender-diverse murder.
43:15A year after Naomi's murder,
43:17students at the London School of Economics
43:20have organised an exhibition in her memory.
43:23Through art and photography, they aim to educate visitors
43:26about the lives of trans and intersex people of colour.
43:29Trans activist Ms Kimberley visits the gallery
43:32to celebrate Naomi's life.
43:35I want to show you some never-before-seen pictures of Naomi.
43:39Oh, fantastic!
43:41That's one of her friends who took a few years ago.
43:46This is the way I remember her.
43:50It's wonderful. It really is wonderful.
43:54You know, it's quite incredible that
43:57it's gotten so much attention from our own community
44:01and we've really helped keep her name alive.
44:05And that's part of the inspiration of this exhibition,
44:08is to not only keep her name alive,
44:11but to remember her in a way that the general media doesn't.
44:15Yes.
44:34If you missed it earlier,
44:36a foreigner piecing together evidence
44:38to explain the tragic deaths of two young men,
44:41Cause of Death, is available to watch now on My5,
44:44where you'll also find many more episodes
44:46of this critically acclaimed series.