A woman who lives with a sustained brain injury was slapped, thrown and kicked by a 68-year-old Victorian man who was allegedly murdered by his wife, the Supreme Court in Mildura has heard.
Warning: This story contains descriptions of alleged domestic abuse and language that readers may find distressing.
Rebecca Payne, 43, is on trial for murder over the death of her husband, Noel Payne, who died in September 2020 at Walpeup, 130 kilometres south of Mildura.
Ms Payne has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and not guilty to murder.
Prerecorded evidence given by the woman with the brain injury was played to the court.
The woman said she was scared and terrified of Mr Payne after he "grabbed [her] and threw [her]" resulting in a "big bruise on the side of [her] face", several years before his death.
The court heard the incident happened when the woman's parents called her soon after she moved into the remote outback home.
"He smashed my phone and threw me in the lounge room … he kicked me in the side," the woman said in her evidence.
She said that was the day Mr Payne took her bank card, which was how she had been accessing her disability pension.
The woman said Mr Payne would only give her money to buy her dog bones, and "nothing else".
"He spends [the money from her bank account] on cars, tyres, everything," she said.
The court heard Mr Payne told the woman to not speak to her parents again, and she said she had not since.
Living in fear
The woman said she remained scared of Mr Payne until his death.
She said Mr Payne called Ms Payne a slut "lots of times".
Defence barrister Richard Edney asked the woman if Mr Payne would say things to Ms Payne such as "you're nothing, little slut".
"He'd take her to the gravel road and call her that," the woman said.
"He spits to her and everything, and calls her names."
Her evidence came after the court heard Mr Payne was violent towards everyone in the household.
It included a 2020 police interview played to the court in which the woman said Ms Payne had drugged her husband with temazepam.
"It was self-defence, she said, because she was scared he was going to hit her again," the woman said.
The trial continues before Justice Rita Incerti.
