A mother broke down and wept moments after being cleared of murdering the father of her child in an alleged Christmas Day knife attack in Fife.
Adriana Ciurar broke down moments after jurors returned a not proven verdict on a charge of murdering her partner Samoila Stoica on December 25 2019.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard how Ms Ciurar, 25, gave birth to their child two days after the alleged attack at her home in Kirkcaldy, Fife.
Ms Ciurar started crying uncontrollably as security guards helped her leave the dock.
She was taken downstairs to the court room cells.
Ambulance called to court
Meanwhile, Mr Stoica’s family started shouting and weeping as a male relative of the deceased collapsed.
Jurors observed proceedings via video link from a cinema five miles from the court room.
It is unclear whether they heard the noise coming from the court room.
Judge Lord Boyd left the bench and police officers from outside the court came to the assistance of colleagues who are based in the legal centre as they tried to restore order.
Court staff telephoned for an ambulance as the stricken man’s relatives told police officers that they feared he had suffered a heart attack.
Paramedics rushed to the court to provide medical assistance to the stricken male.
Security barriers which had been erected to help manage Edinburgh Festival crowds had to be set aside to allow the ambulance to gain access to the court on the city’s Royal Mile.
Accused said stabbing was accident
The developments came just moments after jurors returned a not proven verdict to a charge which claimed Ms Ciurar murdered Mr Stoica, 25, in an attack which prosecutors claimed was aggravated by domestic abuse.
During the trial, the court heard how Ms Ciurar and Mr Stoica were Romanian citizens who worked in a food processing plant in Fife.
Ms Ciurar told defence solicitor advocate Iain Paterson the fatal incident was an accident.
She said she pushed Mr Stoica when she had a knife in her hand as she was doing washing up in the kitchen moments after he grabbed her hair.
She said: “I was just so scared. I didn’t know what was going to happen.
“When he held my hair I was so scared I turned my back to face him and I pushed him to go away.
“I pushed with my hands. I have got the knife in my hand washing the knife,”
“I have to live with this my whole life.”
She said she would have to explain to her child what happened to her father.
Police investigation focused on Ciurar
PC Laura Piercy, 34, told the court that she was on duty on Christmas Day when she got a call to go to their home in David Street, Kirkcaldy, at 1.15pm.
She said that when she got into the house to find Mr Stoica lying on the ground injured.
PC Piercy said a colleague had tried without success to feel for a pulse.
She told the court they started performing CPR on the man.
Ms Ciurar was taken to a nearby police station.
Detective Constable Lindsey Lee told the court of an initial interview in which Ms Ciurar was treated as a witness:
“She was very upset. She was crying ‘on and off’.
“She composed herself sometimes but she became teary again.
“She said that she was upset and she said that she was scared.
“She said she was scared that Sami’s family would think she hurt him.”
A post mortem revealed Mr Stoica died from a single stab wound.
Police became convinced Ms Ciurar was the woman who killed Mr Stoica.
Court heard of troubled relationship
Mr Stoica’s mother Lina also gave evidence.
Mrs Stoica, who also lives in Glenrothes, said that she last saw her son on Christmas Ev,e 2019 and that he had a troubled relationship with the accused.
Mrs Stoica said: “I told him to separate from that woman and to make up with his wife as he had four children.
“But he was telling me I cannot do that. He said ‘I love her very much.’
“I was crying in front of him to tell him to separate but he was telling me ‘I cannot.
“I do not know what she has did to me, I love her too much.”
It is unclear whether Ms Ciurar will return to her home in Fife.
