A woman accused of murdering her partner has told a jury how she tried to fend off a knife attack after telling him their relationship was over.
Kerri Hutcheson said she threw up her hands and pushed the blade which ended up stabbing Graeme Hutcheson in the heart.
The 34-year-old told her trial at the High Court in Dundee that she is responsible for Mr Hutcheson’s death but denies murdering him.
Mr Hutcheson, 33, died after suffering a single stab wound through his heart at Hutcheson’s former home on Dundee’s Whitfield Avenue on Monday, March 7 2022.
In the days leading up to his death, the couple – who share the same surname by coincidence and were not married – had been embroiled in a recurring argument over Hutcheson attending a night out to the bingo the Friday before.
Hutcheson claimed she was bombarded by phone calls and messages from Mr Hutcheson – who was splitting his time between his home in Glasgow and Dundee – about the issue.
‘Ready to blow’
The row reached boiling point in the kitchen on the Monday night after 10.30pm.
Neighbours recalled hearing arguing and shouting hours earlier with Hutcheson telling a friend in WhatsApp messages that she was “raging” and “ready to blow”.
“Graeme came down from upstairs and I was trying to explain to him I wasn’t happy with the way he was talking, and that’s not somebody I was willing to continue a relationship with,” Hutcheson told the jury.
Defence counsel Mark Stewart KC asked: “In essence, were you telling him it was over?”
Hutcheson, who worked as a carer, said yes, claiming Mr Hutcheson wasn’t happy with the response and that a “glazed look” came over his face.
She added: “He came at me with a knife from the dish rack. He was close to me. He just had boxers on.
“The knife was coming towards my face. I thought he was going to kill us. I put my hands up over my face.”
Hutcheson was found with a cut to the back of her left hand which she said occurred after being struck by the knife.
“I used my hand to put it over his hand so he couldn’t strike me again,” Hutcheson added.
“The knife went into Graeme.”
Responsibility
Mr Stewart asked: “Do you accept that you are responsible for how that happened?” to which Hutcheson replied: “Yes, I was trying to defend myself.”
Hutcheson claimed she was “absolutely terrified” and said Mr Hutcheson left the room before finding him on a bed upstairs.
The court previously heard a harrowing 999 call where Mr Hutcheson can be heard groaning in the background.
He was pronounced dead at 11.35pm that night after paramedics desperately worked to save him.
Hutcheson denied deliberately killing her partner, who she had met four months prior to his death after connecting on Facebook.
The court heard how a post-mortem examination found traces of cocaine and alcohol in Mr Hutcheson’s system.
Hutcheson said she had consumed cider and Mad Dog 2020 on the night in question with officers finding her to be visibly under the influence of alcohol.
‘It was over within seconds’
In cross-examination, advocate depute John Keenan KC queried the exact mechanism as to how the knife ended up in Mr Hutcheson’s chest.
Hutcheson said her partner held the knife in his hand in a “raised fist” motion.
Mr Keenan asked Hutcheson: “Is it not the truth you had the knife in your hand, you stabbed him with it quite intentionally? That’s what happened.
“This suggestion you pushed him away in some way, that just doesn’t make sense.
“You intentionally struck Graeme Hutcheson with a knife and you murdered him.
“You were raging. You were ready to blow.”
Hutcheson replied: “No, not at all. I don’t understand what you want me to describe. I can’t give you a big, long story.
“It was a really traumatic time. It was over within seconds.”
Hutcheson, of Harcourt Street, denies murdering her partner on March 7 2022 by stabbing him to death with a knife. She claims she acted in self-defence.
The trial before judge Lady Drummond continues.
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