A woman killed her husband with a samurai sword, “stabbing and slicing him” more than 50 times before replacing the sword in its sheath on a stand, a court heard.
Joanna Rowland-Stuart, 71, has been deemed “unfit to plead” to the murder of her husband Andrew Rowland-Stuart, 69, in their 15th-floor flat in Lavender Street in Brighton, on May 27 last year.
She told police attending the scene that “she had no choice” but to kill him, after he attacked her with the sword, which she had bought in the 1980s.
When police and paramedics arrived on the scene, they tried to conduct life-saving treatment, but Mr Rowland-Stuart’s injuries were “simply not survivable”.
On Monday, jurors at Lewes Crown Court were told they must determine whether Rowland-Stuart’s actions were unlawful, but that she would not be involved in proceedings.
Prosecuting, Charlotte Newell KC said there was “no doubt” Rowland-Stuart had inflicted the injuries, “which she did by stabbing and slicing him over 50 – five-zero – times with a samurai sword.”
Ms Newell continued: “Although Joanna Rowland-Stuart made some suggestion to attending police officers at the time that she did act in self-defence – the crown suggest that can safely be rejected.
“On the basis that, whatever the cause for attacking Andrew, the sheer number and the nature of the wounds that she inflicted, could not possibly be a reasonable use of force.”
On the evening of the attack, Rowland-Stuart went to her neighbour’s flat across the hall from her own, wearing just her underwear, covered in her husband’s blood.
By this time, she had already tried to wash herself and the sword clean of Andy’s blood in the shower, the prosecution said.
Her neighbour proceeded to call the police, and she told the operator: “My husband Andy has tried to kill me with a samurai sword – in the scuffle I have managed to turn the sword towards him and he has fallen on the sword.”
Jurors heard that Rowland-Stuart, who is transgender, married Mr Rowland Stuart, known as Andy, in a civil partnership in 2006.
Their neighbours gave witness statements that described them as a “normal couple” who they had never heard arguing.
Describing the scene, Ms Newell said: “Andy was lying in the small living room in a pool of blood – he was covered in blood from significant knife wounds to his hands, his arms and to his torso – he was wearing underwear and a long sleeve t-shirt and that was soaked through.
“The samurai sword, which had been used to inflict all bar one of the injuries, had been placed back on a sheath and back on its stand from where it was later recovered.”
This morning, Rowland-Stuart was found “unfit” to plead and participate in her trial.
Judge Christine Laing KC ruled: “She would be an unreliable witness in her own defence and would not be fit to be cross-examined, and for those reasons alone I find her unfit to plead.”
A trial of the act, which decides if someone physically committed a crime, rather than their intent, will continue tomorrow morning.
