A woman charged with stabbing her partner to death has told the court that she has previously scratched the victim, but said he gave her a black eye on two occasions.
Joanne Moran, 42, of Bridge Road, Litherland is currently standing trial at Liverpool Crown Court accused of murdering Jonathan Gibbons, who died after being stabbed in the chest. She has pleaded not guilty to one count of murder and one count of manslaughter, in relation to an incident on October 30 last year.
The court has heard that on October 30, 2022, at about 4.45 in the morning, emergency services received a phone call from Joanne Moran reporting that a man had been stabbed, and the caller was requesting assistance on Bridge Road, Litherland.
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Opening the trial, Andrew O’Byrne KC, prosecuting, said: “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. “That in headline form encapsulates this case.”
Moran and Mr Gibbons had been in a relationship since 2016, and had lived at their home on Bridge Road in Litherland for around four years. A court heard that Moran and Mr Gibbons began drinking and playing cards at around 3pm and continued until around 4am the next morning, when an argument broke out.
Another male was in the property at the time of the stabbing and allegedly had an argument with the victim, but did not witness the incident. Moran then allegedly stabbed Mr Gibbons using a small black handled knife from the kitchen, before calling emergency services herself.
Today, Wednesday, the transcripts of Moran's police interviews soon after the incident were read to the court, and she was called to the stand to give evidence. The trial heard that Moran said to officers “I just stabbed my partner”, and repeatedly said “I’m sorry” immediately after the stabbing.
In her first interview with police immediately after the incident, she told officers that on previous occasions she had “scratched” Mr Gibbons during or after arguments, and he would restrain her to stop her. When an officer asked if Mr Gibbons ever assaulted her or hit her, she said no and said he was “placid”, and then referred to herself as “just a cow”.
Shortly later in the same interview however, she said she had “not painted herself in a very good light”, and said Mr Gibbons had assaulted her and given her a black eye on two occasions. Moran also said: “I don’t always put my hands on him, if we argue, we argue, but it doesn’t always end up in me assaulting him, I’m not that bad.”
An officer asked her if Mr Gibbons was violent, and she said “no he is not violent” but “he could be vicious with his words.” Moran took the stand to give evidence during the trial on Wednesday, and during cross examination Mr O’Byrne asked her what “just a cow meant” and she responded that “sometimes I can be a cow when I used to argue with him”, but said both her and Mr Gibbons “could be aggressive”.
Mr O’Byrne continued: “I am wondering, was this one of those episodes where you were acting like a cow?” “No.” During a police interview, she was also asked about Cathy Gibbons, the victim’s ex-wife, and what relationship she had with her, to which she said none.
Moran said: “I know what they are going to say, we did used to fight quite a lot because of her because she used to phone him and me up asking for money and yes I did used to scratch his face.” Another prosecution witness, Sandra Lewis, said she once saw her brother, Mr Gibbons, with scratch marks on his face and confronted Moran about possibly causing them.
When asked about this today while giving evidence, Moran agreed this had happened and that she had “promised to never do it again”, but claimed it was during the first two months of their relationship. Gordon Cole KC, defending, asked why this incident occurred.
Moran said: “We were just arguing and basically I was jealous that he was still in touch with his ex-wife, I thought he was going to go back to her, he didn’t and I got over it, it was just the beginning of the relationship.” A statement made by Mr Gibbon’s son, Jay Gibbons, was also read out in court, and detailed a time he recalled seeing scratch marks on the “leg, cheek and lower arms” of his father.
He said Mr Gibbons “made up excuses” as to how he got the injuries, but Jay Gibbons described them as “injuries caused by fingernails”. He said in his statement that he once visited his father’s previous home around four years ago, and after some time, Moran and Mr Gibbons began arguing.
He said: “She (Moran) went for my dad and started to scratch my dads face and he was trying to stop her. “He grabbed her arms and pushed her onto the couch and pinned her down to stop her assaulting him.”
However, during her police interview, Moran claimed she and Mr Gibbons never had a fight in front of Jay Gibbons, because “John would never have let that happen''. During her cross examination on Wednesday, she repeated the assertion that Mr Gibbons left her with a black eye twice.
The trial continues.
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