A WOMAN who fatally stabbed her boyfriend in a Kangaroo Flat home told police the victim put the knife in her hand and told her to do it, a court has been told.
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Elise Walker, 35, also told police she called triple-0 to request an ambulance after the stabbing, but phone records show no call occurred.
Walker pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court in Bendigo on Friday to one count of manslaughter for the death of Matthew Johnston, 37, on Christmas Eve, 2016.
The court heard further details about the tumultuous relationship between the pair, who had been violent towards each other and were both regular drug users.
Walker and Mr Johnston started their relationship in late 2013 and moved in together in Pakenham with Walker’s children.
They became homeless in 2015 following the sale of the house and relocated to Bendigo after Walker lost custody of her children.
After a short period living in Wedderburn they found a rental in Bendigo but were evicted for not paying rent.
Walker and Mr Johnston remained homeless in 2016 but found accommodation with a friend on Pauline Court, Kangaroo Flat.
They had been living at the address for two months when the fatal stabbing occurred.
Christmas Eve, 2016
The court heard Walker and Mr Johnston had been arguing for several days about their plans for Christmas, and the argument intensified on Christmas Eve when Walker arrived back from shopping at Lansell Square.
She had drunk two bottles of wine during the day.
A number of neighbours told police they heard screaming and yelling coming from the house from about 4pm, including Walker demanding her phone back and Mr Johnston shouting obscenities.
Witnesses watched her walk away from the house, before turning around and returning.
Just after 5pm, multiple witnesses claim they saw Walker attempting to leave the front door when her head “suddenly snapped back” like someone had pulled her hair and dragged her back inside.
More yelling followed, and a neighbour called police at 5.38pm to report a domestic disturbance. Only a woman’s voice could be heard from the house by that stage.
Walker came out the house soon after with blood on her arms, knees and clothes. She shouted for someone to call police and an ambulance.
When police arrived at 6pm they found Walker crying on the floor of the hallway near the body of Mr Johnston, who was pronounced dead at 6.14pm.
He had a stab wound to his upper left chest which caused acute blood loss.
A blood-stained 27-centimetre knife was found on the floor of the family room.
‘He put a knife in my hand’
Walker was interviewed by Homicide Squad detectives at 1am on Christmas Day, telling police Mr Johnston had given her the knife.
“He put a knife in my hand and goes ‘f---ing do it’,” she told police.
“I didn’t even look at him when I did it.
“He handed me that knife. He wouldn’t let me leave.”
Mr Johnston lost consciousness 10 minutes after he was stabbed, the court heard.
Walker also claimed she called triple-0 to request an ambulance, but records from her phone showed no phone call took place.
She conceded their relationship was volatile and “occasionally escalated to physical fights”. Walker said there had been “massive punch ons” between them.
Walker said she had tried to leave the house before the stabbing but Mr Johnston “kept blocking the door, getting in the way, pushing me away, pushing me over, threatening to hurt me”.
Crown Prosecutor Daryl Brown said there was “an element of self-defence”, but the stabbing involved an “objective risk of serious injury”.
A forensic analysis found that Mr Johnston must have been in a bending-over position when the knife was stabbed into his chest.
Man’s death left a family grieving
Mr Johnston’s parents Warwick and Susan, who live in Townsville, told the court of the moment police knocked on their front door at 1.20am on Christmas Day to tell them their son had been killed.
They then had the task of informing Mr Johnston’s sister Jessica and other family members later in the morning.
“The celebratory Christmas food and gifts, all abandoned in grief,” Warwick Johnston told the court.
The parents said they regretted not doing more to remove Mr Johnston from his “toxic” living environment with Walker.
They claimed they were told “numerous lies” during the pair’s three-year relationship, and blamed Walker for leading their son astray.
Warwick Johnston said they are haunted daily about their son’s death and their inability to do more.
“He had made some stupid or bad decisions, but that did not make him bad,” he told the court.
Stabbing was ‘spontaneous and not premeditated’
Defence counsel Anthony Lewis told the court Walker only started using ice when her relationship with Mr Johnston began.
He said violence in their relationship “involved both parties” and that Mr Johnston’s behaviour in the months leading up to the stabbing was “becoming unpredictable”.
"The relationship between Ms Walker and Mr Johnston was a happy one, but at times was a tumultuous one,” Mr Lewis said.
He described the stabbing as “spontaneous and not premeditated”, and that Walker had shown remorse.
“Since 24 December, 2016, Ms Walker has been faced with the reality that she caused the death of the person she loved,” Mr Lewis said.
“There has never been any attempt to shy away from the fact that she committed that act.”
He said Walker had been dragged back inside the house “involuntarily” before the stabbing occurred.
Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth will sentence Walker next Wednesday.