A woman accused of murdering her "drinking partner" says she did not realise he had been injured until an ambulance arrived at their home.
Cheryl O'Callaghan is currently standing trial at Liverpool Crown Court accused of the murder of 57-year-old Adrian Swift, whom it was reported was found dead in the bath at the address on Bishopsgate Street in Wavertree. But she allegedly beat her flatmate with a baseball bat and pushed him down the stairs during an assault on March 23 2021.
Jurors were previously told Mr Swift had stated to paramedics who were called to the scene that 46-year-old O'Callaghan, of Stanton Crescent in Kirkby, had been responsible. He discharged himself from hospital the following morning despite suffering severe injuries during the incident, dying hours later.
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The defendant was called to give evidence from the witness box today, Monday. On the stand, O'Callaghan denied having attacked the deceased or having shoved him down a flight of stairs.
On the day of the incident, she said she had been in bed early in the morning with her then partner Steven Hardaker when Mr Swift knocked on the door. The two men began drinking while sat on the bed while O'Callaghan listened to music on her iPod.
The self-described "functioning alcoholic" told the court: "There was a knock on the bedroom door about 6am. It was Adrian asking Steven for a drink.
"It was the regular time when they started drinking, Hardaker and Adrian and Adam Oldland. Adrian was sitting on the edge of the bed and Steven was sitting on the bed, I just put my earphones in."
O'Callaghan said she went downstairs into the living room at around 8am and began drinking and smoking cannabis. She continued listening to music with her headphones in, with the door to the sitting room remaining shut.
An ambulance was then called for Mr Swift at around 3.45pm. O'Callaghan - who wore a grey overcoat, a light grey dress and had her black hair tied back in a bun while escorted from the dock by one security guard - said: "I'd noticed the ambulance, I'd noticed it pull up outside.
"I shouted up, 'why is there an ambulance outside the door?'. Steven said Adrian had fell down the stairs drunk."
O'Callaghan was heard to say to paramedics that their attendance was a "waste of time, they had better things to do and he was just an alchy". She said of this: "There was a lot of times ambulances were coming because he'd fallen over.
"Covid was bad and I thought he was wasting ambulance time again. I didn't see his face because the room was dark.
"I'd had enough of their behavior, the way they were acting all the time. The scruffiness of the house, the cleanliness of them, the ambulances coming all the time, Adrian going to hospital after falling, everything."
O'Callaghan recalled that she was still in bed when Mr Swift returned from hospital in a taxi shortly before 8.45am the following day. During the course of the morning, she remembered: "They had music on and everyone was drinking.
"I heard Adrian saying to Steven he didn't want to live no more, his mum had just been diagnosed with cancer. But I just put it down to the alcohol."
O'Callaghan said Mr Swift had gone upstairs for a bath, and Oldland had taken him alcohol. He was said to have found him dead after returning to give him a cigarette around five minutes later.
She said: "Adam shouted downstairs, shouting 'Steven, Cheryl'. He was in shock.
"I went straight up the stairs, Steven ran up after me. Adrian was laying in the bath.
"He was like a grey, white colour. The taps were still on, there was some water coming over the bath.
"It's overflowed a bit, coming over. I went straight to his mouth to blow into his mouth.
"Steven had come in by that time and pulled the plug out. He turned the taps off.
"I thought he might have overdosed or done it to himself because of the way he was talking. I asked Steven Hardaker and Adam Oldland to get him out of the bath because he's too heavy for me."
O'Callaghan also said she had given chest compressions to Mr Swift. Paramedics discovered him wearing a t-shirt and with his jeans around his ankles.
The jury had previously been shown video footage of an incident in May 2020 which had been filmed by a resident in a neighbouring property. The clip showed O'Callaghan kicking Mr Swift in the face and body as he lay motionless in the street.
She said of this: "It was disguting. I feel disgusted and ashamed. I was in the living room. He come behind me and he put his hands up my shorts and grabbed me from underneath.
"I've knocked him away. We've got into an argument, I've called him a pervert - he's got no right to do that to me.
"He was telling me to shut up. I pushed him away, he's picked up a knife and he's come at me with a knife.
"I've grabbed him to the wrist to loosen the grip of the knife. I've took the knife and I've flung the knife down, he went to the front door and fell.
"He'd just come at me with a knife and sexually attacked me. I was shocked that he had come at me with a knife."
Police were called to the scene and arrested O'Callaghan, who said she did not report the alleged sexual assault "because he apologised". Meanwhile, she claimed that Hardaker had been abusive and controlling towards both herself and Mr Swift previously.
All of the parties were living in his home, with O'Callaghan stating: "He had control over my money, it got paid straight into his bank account - he had control of Adrian Swift's bank card. He had control of the money and the alcohol."
She had been with Hardaker for around 18 months to two years, but police had been called to reports of assaults by him upon O'Callaghan on occasions. One allegedly saw him hit her with a bottle, with another leaving her bruised after apparently kicking her.
She stated that Hardaker had punched Mr Swift in the mouth on one occasion after the latter - who she described as her "drinking partner" - had sought to defend her. He had complained of having a tooth knocked out during this incident.
O'Callaghan denies one count of murder. The trial continues, with the jury expected to retire to consider its verdicts later this week.
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