Ford found not guilty of murder

Natalie Ford. Photo / Greg Bowker

The woman who plunged a knife into her partner's chest so hard it chipped his ribs and left the skin bruised from the force of the blow has been found not guilty of murder.

Natalie Ford, 44, has been found not guilty of murdering Gary Marshall at Orewa in January last year. She has admitted stabbing him but claimed it was self-defence after she was punched, kicked and choked.

The jury deliberated for about five hours before coming back with the not guilty verdict shortly before 5pm today.

During the trial, locals said they heard screaming and yelling in the lead-up to Mr Marshal's death.

Before the jury retired, Ford described the fight between the couple that led to the stabbing.

She said Mr Marshall put a hand over her mouth to stop her calling out to neighbours. She bit his finger and he pushed her to the ground.

"Gary was kicking me. I was lying on the ground. I curled up, protecting my head in the fetal position so he couldn't kick my ribs because I was winded."

She said she threatened to call the police but Mr Marshall grabbed her cell phone and snapped it in half.

"He said: 'Who you going to call now, you b****?'."

Ford said Marshall put his hands around her throat and said: "I'll f***ing kill you, you b****."

He then slammed her head into the kitchen bench before she reached for a kitchen knife.

"I picked up the knife. He pulled me back up."

Ford then made an action of lunging forward with the knife.

"That was it. I threw the knife across the kitchen."

She burst into tears as she described seeing Marshall take a few steps back and fall into a pool of blood on the floor.

The Crown said the accused then put the knife in the kitchen sink and tried to wash the blood off before calling for an ambulance.

Ford initially told authorities that Mr Marshall had committed suicide by stabbing himself in the chest but later admitted inflicting the fatal wound.