Man was 'scared' of ex accused of Christmas murder
FamilyA dad-of-six who was allegedly murdered on Christmas Day by his "abusive" ex-partner was "scared" of her, a friend of the victim has told her trial.
Kirsty Carless, 33, is on trial at Stafford Crown Court, where she denies murdering 31-year-old Louis Price by stabbing him in the heart.
Prosecutors suggested the attack had been "motivated by anger and jealousy and fuelled by cocaine and alcohol" after a friend sent her a picture of his dating profile on Tinder.
They allege Ms Carless, of Haling Way in Cannock, Staffordshire, took a kitchen knife in a taxi from her home to Mr Price's parents' address in Elm Road, Norton Canes, where she expected to find him with a woman.
CCTV showed Ms Carless "stalking" him around the garden before he was later found with a single stab wound to the chest on the conservatory floor.
Giving evidence on the second day of the trial, friend Demi-Louise Deakin said Mr Price had confided in her about his on-off relationship with Ms Carless when they attended a funeral at the end of November 2024.
Asked by prosecution counsel Jonas Hankin KC what Mr Price had said, Miss Deakin said: "He said he was scared of Kirsty and if he didn't leave soon something bad would happen to him.
"He said she can be violent towards him."
A neighbour told the court she had called the police after witnessing Ms Carless chasing and hitting Mr Price in the ribs with a metal pole outside the house while he had his arms up protecting his head.
Jurors were shown police body-worn video footage from when officers attended the defendant's home on 11 November 2024.
Mr Price had phoned 999 to say she had poured bleach over tracksuits worth £400, thrown a glass candle holder at him, pulled him down the stairs and choked him.
In a witness statement after the incident, he said the relationship "on the whole, has been abusive".
He said: "She has constantly been abusive towards me, stopped me doing things I enjoy like football, and physically abused me."
Ms Carless denies murder and possessing an offensive weapon in a public place in relation to the fatal incident on 25 December 2024.
She also also denies one count of intentional strangulation and one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm in relation to the incident on November 11 2024.
The trial continues.
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