It’s the Crown’s case the woman straddled her husband during sex and stabbed him in the neck and abdomen as his eyes were closed and he was close to climaxing. He suffered life-threatening injuries.
The defence case is the stabbing was in self-defence as the man was tightening a strap around her neck during sex.
The defence elected not to call witnesses to give evidence. The defendant’s lawyer, Tony Bamford, gave closing remarks on Monday, telling the jury the Crown had “cherry-picked” evidence. He suggested there was enough reasonable doubt to find the woman not guilty.
Bamford said the woman was distressed, having had a protection order served to her, but was also scared of what her husband could do, so reached for scissors when he didn’t stop tightening the strap at her request.
The Crown’s closing
McConachy said the woman had been caught out sending nude videos and photos to other men by her children. The couple separated and the complainant took out a protection order against her.
The woman was “highly manipulative”, McConachy said.
McConachy said the woman was acting “hyper”, “frantic” and “reckless” and “took matters into her own hands”.
“You can be sure this was planned and pre-meditated.”
McConachy reminded the jury of an argument recording that was played during evidence where the woman called her husband names, including “a useless c***”, a “f***ing loser” and a “f***ing idiot”.
“Is that someone scared of her husband?”
McConachy said the complainant said in his evidence his wife’s face was blank with no emotion as she stabbed him. He described it as if “no one was home”.
The forensic evidence
The jury was told “someone was lying”, and McConachy said all the evidence - particularly the forensic evidence - supported the man’s version of events.
McConachy said the woman’s account was difficult to follow and did not make sense. She said it also evolved over time.
Initially, the woman said she was hanging off the bed being choked during sex when she reached for the bedside cabinet where the scissors were and stabbed him, McConachy said.
The woman then said they were facing each other having sex, but she was being pushed backwards when she reached back with her left hand for the scissors, the prosecutor said.
McConachy said all the heavy blood stains were clearly on the right-hand side of the bed, where the man slept, but it was not physically possible for the woman to have reached the scissors from there.
Wife alleged to have planted choking evidence
McConachy took the jury through several inconsistencies and suggested the defendant had tampered with the scene and created a cover-up story.
This included the bag strap – the defence’s key piece of evidence.
McConachy said the strap never existed during sex and the woman put it around her neck herself after stabbing her husband for the purpose of claiming he harmed her.
She said it was the woman’s evidence she had distracted her husband by “tickling his b****” and the strap loosened, giving her time to get free and stab him.
But McConachy said the bag strap was not one that tightened or loosened depending on how hard you pulled it. Its clasp needed to be physically lifted.
McConachy said when police arrived at the scene, the woman was wearing the strap around her neck and it had been pulled so tight an officer couldn’t get their finger underneath it. There was also no blood on it, despite a lot of blood being on the bed.
Stabbing was excessive, Crown says
McConachy reminded the jury that a neighbour said the woman told her she would “stick it to him one day” and “I’ll end it”, and that was exactly what she did.
McConachy said the defendant used excessive force and inflicted life-threatening injuries.
“You don’t use a sledgehammer to break up a pillow fight.”
McConachy described the force as “gratuitous and excessive”.
Defence’s closing remarks
Bamford said the couple had a dysfunctional relationship and the defendant’s comments to the neighbour were made several months earlier in the context of a possible divorce.
He said the woman was acting anxious and different because she had a protection order placed on her and it made her nervous.
Bamford reminded the jury the woman had called 111 – as did one of the children who was tending to their father’s wounds – after the incident and she would not have had time to put a strap around her neck.
That phone call was played to the jury, and there was no audio evidence that suggested she was putting on a strap while talking to police, Bamford said.
The woman’s evidence being “slightly jumbled” came with a three-hour police interview and suffering from a traumatic event.
He said the jury would have the scissors with them in the jury room and would be able to feel how sharp they were. He suggested the wound on the neck could have been a “glancing blow”.
“It might not have been force at all. Those scissors were sharp. Maybe she just jabbed him to get him off.”
Bamford said there was reasonable doubt and the jury must therefore find the defendant not guilty.
Judge Tony Snell summed up the case this afternoon and the jury retired just before 4pm to consider its verdict.
Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.
