26 February 2024 , 22:23
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A woman "stabbed her abusive husband to death" after the couple engaged in a row, a court has heard.
Christine Rawle is on trial for murder after allegedly plunging a knife into husband Ian's back during an argument at their home in Devon. The 70-year had "lashed out" at him as he walked away from her following the row on a Sunday afternoon in August 2022, before 'walking away.
Rawle, who described herself on social media as a "hypnotist, trauma recovery guide, horsewoman", appeared in the dock at Exeter crown court on Monday at the four-week trial got underway after she previously pleaded not guilty to the murder charge. Opening the case, prosecutor Sean Brunton KC said the mum-of-three stabbed "unarmed, unprepared" Ian, 72, "without any warning" whilst in "a fit of temper".
Addressing the jury, Mr Brunton said: "We say this as clear a case of murder as you are likely to find. This defendant Christine Rawle was having an argument with her husband Ian and picked up a large sharp knife.
"And in a fit of temper she stabbed it into his back without any warning as he was walking away and left the knife sticking into his back as she walks off with her husband following her and imploring her to pull the knife out of his back. He followed her 100 yards through their field in North Devon and then collapsed to the ground and a short time later he died from the wound inflicted by that stab.
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"His wife then removed the knife and at some point kicked it under the stable door. She then sat there and waited for the police and ambulance to arrive." Rawle's daughter was the one to call for an ambulance, the court heard, as the defendant was described as a "complex, troubled somewhat devious woman".
"This is a case of murder," said the prosecutor. The jury was told the couple had been married for 29 years and had gotten married in April 1995. It was heard how Rawle's defence said she was a victim of a controlling and coercive relationship at the hands of Ian.
Mr Brunton asked if "her husband was so nasty, so bullying and so abusive towards her that she was somehow compelled to act as she did and justify such an act against a defenceless husband". But the prosecutor added that, instead of stabbing him, Rawle could have simply walked away and gone to stay with friends.
He said that Rawles bickered and wound each other up and were petty and unkind to each other but Mr Brunton said: "If anyone was the bully it was this woman." He added that the manipulative one in the relationship had in fact been Rawle.
Mr Brunton said both Rawles had been wed before, and that Mrs Rawle had three children from her first marriage and they witnessed the 'somewhat dysfunctional relationship' between them. Ian Rawle's previous wife and another long term partner said there was nothing odd, unpleasant or bullying about him or his behaviour towards them, the jury heard.
Mr Brunton said: "Quite the contrary, he was a mild mannered, thoughtful, hardworking and decent man. He was no saint, far from it, he had his faults, but a straight forward man." Christine Rawle, from Knowle, North Devon, denies murder. The trial continues.