A Berrow woman accused of murdering her husband stabbed him with a kitchen knife in their home when he was no threat to her, jurors have heard.
Penelope Jackson, 66, stabbed husband of 24 years David, 78, three times at their home in Parsonage Road, Berrow in February.
Prosecutor Christopher Quinlan suggested she had “deliberately lunged” at her husband and he was no threat when she attacked him a second time.
Mrs Jackson admits manslaughter but denies murder.
She says her husband was coercive, controlling and physically violent, and that she lost control when he called her “pathetic” and later taunted her in the kitchen, Bristol Crown Court heard.
Following a row over a gourmet meal on Zoom with their daughter and son-in-law, Mr Jackson was first slashed across the chest in a bedroom of the couple’s house, jurors heard.
He was then stabbed twice in the kitchen while on the phone to the emergency services, the court heard.
“I didn’t intend anything. I had lost the plot, I had reacted. I knew I stabbed him – it was the blood – I was horrified,” said Mrs Jackson.
Referring to the 999 call, in which Mr Jackson could be heard summoning help, Mr Quinlan, cross-examining, said: “He was not threatening to you when you stabbed him again?”
Mrs Jackson replied: “It was that face.”
Mr Quinlan continued: “He was calling for help. You did it twice when he was calling for help, Mrs Jackson. No threat to you, was he? Was he?”
Mrs Jackson replied: “He was in my… taunting me… I never thought… I lost it.
Breaking down, she told the court: “I didn’t know what I thought, I wasn’t thinking. He was always a threat when he had that face on.”
“Penny was upset. She looked as though she had been crying.”
The trial continues.
