A woman killed her partner by knifing him in the chest while she was speaking on the phone to her sister, a murder trial has heard.
Tanya Hoskin, 52, plunged the knife into her partner Nigel Johnson, 55, after the pair had been drinking together on December 27, 2020.
Mere moments before the fatal blow, Hoskin, from Exmouth, allegedly told her sister 'He's getting on my last nerve', Devon Live reports.
Hoskin has gone on trial at Exeter Crown Court. She denies murder, and states that she acted in self-defence. She claims to have no memory of what occurred.
Prosecutor, Anna Vigers QC, said the fatal incident occurred at approximately 9.15pm at the pair's home in Exmouth.
She said: "There's no question about who it was who killed Nigel Johnston, it was Tanya Hoskin. She's never tried to pretend otherwise."
The question for the jury is why she killed him.
Vigars said: "It was not an accident. It was a deliberate stabbing with a large kitchen knife into Nigel Johnston's chest with the sad and obvious consequence of his death."
She added: "There was only one knife on the kitchen floor - the one she used to stab him.
"When she was on the telephone there was no suggestion of any attack. Not anybody who needed to be fended off with a knife."
The prosecution say there is no evidence of a life or death struggle that could justify self-defence.
The background to the case was a long and sometimes volatile relationship between the pair, said the prosecutor.
The couple had known one another since 1989. They had spent years apart but resumed a relationship in 2014.
Vigars said there were times they would get on well. Johnston suffered from multiple health problems due to a botched operation some years before. Hoskin would care and support him.
But neighbours also reported hearing rows in which she was said to be aggressive and controlling while he was placid. Mr Johnson had once confided in a friend that she was the only person he had ever been scared of.
The pair had shared a quiet Christmas together and were isolating themselves during the Covid health crisis.
Just before 6pm Hoskin went to McColl's and bought a bottle of gin.
The prosecution say by the time she stabbed Johnston the bottle of gin had been very largely consumed
Viagars said there was a 'bizarre and drunken' voice recording made by Hoskin shortly before she killed Mr Johnston in which the pair can be heard having a rambling and largely incoherent conversation. The prosecution say Hoskin was aggressive in her tone.
At one point they talked about zombies. Hoskin asked him whether he would be saving her from the zombie apocalypse and suggested he was 'not man enough' to do it.
The recording picked up the noises of her slapping him, said the prosecutor.
She also talked about violence she says he inflicted on her in the past, including putting her in a ‘sleeper hold’.
Vigars said Hoskin was on the phone to her sister at the time she killed Johnston. She complained to her about Johnson getting on her nerves and biting her.
Hoskin's sister heard 'a tapping sound' and then her saying 'Oh my God'. Hoskin started to scream and go into hysterics.
She called 999 and ran to a neighbour for help.
Johnston did not initially appear to realise he had been badly hurt. But by the time paramedics arrived a short time later there was nothing they could do to save him.
Medics performed open heart surgery on the pavement but the wound had caused massive internal bleeding.
A post-mortem examination revealed the blade had penetrated 20-30cm into his chest. The blow would not have required much force to cut into the portal vein.
Hoskin initially told police that Mr Johnson had never been violent to her and had only ever grabbed her in the past to calm her down. She described herself as five or six out of ten drunk at the time.
The prosecution say Mr Johnson could be irritating and silly when he was drunk but he was not a violent man. Hoskin, the prosecution say, may or may not be able to remember what happened on the night she used the knife. But it is said she was known to have a short temper and could be violent.
Vigars said the phone call proves Hoskin was not in any imminent danger of being attacked by Johnston. The allegation is she meant to cause him, at the very least, really serious harm.
"Just because somebody is drunk doesn't mean they're not capable of forming an intention," said the prosecutor.
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