The murder trial for a woman accused of fatally stabbing her partner in the chest has begun.
Joanne Moran, 42, of Bridge Road, Litherland, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday accused of the murder of Jonathan Gibbons, who died after being stabbed in the chest. She previously pleaded not guilty to one count of murder and one count of manslaughter, in relation to an incident on October 30 last year.
Andrew O’Byrne, prosecuting, said: “On October 30, 2022, at about 4.45 in the morning, emergency services received a phone call reporting that a man had been stabbed, and the caller was requesting assistance. “The man who had been stabbed was called Jonathan Gibbons, the person who placed that call was the defendant, Joanne Moran, and the person who stabbed Mr Gibbons, was the defendant, Joanne Moran.
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“That in headline form encapsulates this case.” He continued: “The defendant and the late Jonathan Gibbons were partners and had been in a relationship for about six years or so.
“They lived together in Litherland.” Mr O’Byrne detailed that one other person was at that address during the alleged stabbing, but did not witness it directly.
He said: “He is a prosecution witness, not to the actual stabbing itself but to the timing of the stabbing. “The day before, that evening, the defendant, the deceased and the witness were all at the property.
“Mr Gibbons and Ms Moran were playing cards, talking and drinking, and were still doing so into the early hours of the next morning.” He said that at around 4am, the witness heard the sound of arguing and eventually went to investigate.
Mr O’Byrne continued: “It seemed to him that Mr Gibbons and Ms Moran had too much to drink and in essence he told them to behave themselves.” Mr O’Byrne said an argument broke out between the witness and Mr Gibbons, during which time they shouted at each other and Mr Gibbons allegedly told the witness he would “stab him and get someone to shoot him”.
Mr O'Byrne told the court that the witness “did not seem to be unduly concerned by that” and went to another room in the house. Around 10 or twenty minutes later, the witness heard the defendant shouting that “she had stabbed Jonathan Gibbons, and at first he thought it was a “wind-up”.
Mr O’Byrne said the witness then saw Mr Gibbons lying on the floor on his back, and Moran was holding him. She then called the emergency services before the witness took over and he then applied pressure to Mr Gibbons’ wound under the direction of emergency service workers.
Police arrived at the scene, and Mr O’Byrne said the defendant told officers that she was “really sorry”, and claimed that Mr Gibbons “attacked” the witness. Mr O’Byrne said: “She confirmed that she had stabbed Mr Gibbons and pointed out the weapon she used, a knife.”
Moran was arrested and taken into custody, and Mr Gibbons was taken to Aintree Hospital where attempts to save his life were made, but he died later that evening. Mr O’Byrne detailed that Moran was later interviewed under caution, and confirmed that she had stabbed Mr Gibbons and that she had been drunk.
She said she remembered an argument between the witness and Mr Gibbons but did not remember exactly what had been said. In that interview, Mr O’Byrne told the court that Moran said she “didn’t intend to hurt him and did not know why she had used the knife”.
In a later police interview, she said Mr Gibbons was still shouting at the witness when she used the knife. Mr O’Byrne said: “The account she was giving initially to police is not supported by the witness, he said he was not in the room at the time of the stabbing.”
He detailed that a post mortem determined that Mr Gibbons' death was caused by a single stab wound to the chest, which was around 7 cm in depth. The knife passed through the upper left lung and fatally injured the heart, and moderate force was used as damage was done to cartilage but not cut through bone.
Mr O’Byrne concluded: “If you put a knife into somebody’s chest, no matter how small the knife may be, what else can you intend, we say, other than to cause serious injury.”
The trial continues.
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