Gasps and tears were heard in court today after Ring doorbell footage was shown to a jury in the trial of Natalie Bennett.
The 47-year-old is on trial charged with murdering her partner Kasey Anderson. He died a week before his 25th birthday in March this year after being slashed several times with a knife and suffering two stab wounds.
Mr Anderson called 999 as he lay gravely injured in the street outside his 47-year-old girlfriend's home on Carr Lane East in Croxteth and told call handlers "he was dying". Bennett was then said to have claimed to the police that he had arrived at her home "like that".
READ MORE: Live updates as Natalie Bennett appears in court over Kasey Anderson murder
Richard Pratt KC told Liverpool Crown Court during the prosecution's opening on Tuesday that a Ring doorbell camera attached to her next door neighbour's property seemingly showed her "holding a knife to the head of the distraught and injured Mr Anderson". He said of this: "Thus, we suggest, she continued to demonstrate hostility towards him even after she must have known she had stabbed him in the chest."
The prosecutor described how the footage showed various "coming and goings" at Bennett's house during the day of March 11 2023. These included Mr Anderson being seen walking out of the address shortly after 10.30am in the direction of Croxteth Hall Lane, then returning with a white carrier bag a short time later.
In the afternoon, a woman called Claire Smith arrived with a small dog and carrying a white plastic bag before exiting again. Bennett was shown leaving at 4.18pm, while the deceased also left briefly at 4.37pm.
At 5.05pm, the defendant and Ms Smith were seen walking back into the former's home. She would be seen leaving once more within half an hour, "pausing and throwing a drink can towards the front entrance" as she did so.
Then, shortly after 6.15pm, Mr Anderson was seen "with a broom in his hand, hitting out towards the front door" before Bennett was said to have spoken on the phone to Ms Smith – who "appeared again at the front gate within seconds of that call concluding". Mr Pratt said that the Ring doorbell then showed Bennett "holding a pointed article in her right hand in the driveway", adding: “We say that’s an important image for you to consider.”
The footage was then played to the jury, and seemingly showed Mr Anderson appearing in shot clutching at his chest before banging on the neighbour's front window then collapsing to the floor. His girlfriend was then seen to aim a blow towards his head, prompting gasps and tears among members of his family in the public gallery.
Mr Pratt told the court: "Our case is that, while Kasey Anderson was reporting to the emergency services, she is holding a pointed article in her right hand and appears to use it either to strike Kasey Anderson in the head or at least very close to his head. That action does not appear to have caused any notable injury, at least not one seen by the pathologist when he came to examine Kasey Anderson after death, but the prosecution say that it demonstrates a continuing hostility, we say, by this defendant towards Kasey Anderson."
The video was then said to show Ms Smith "checking on Mr Anderson" before she and Bennett re-entered her home. The latter subsequently reappeared and was described as "remonstrating with Kasey Anderson".
The jury of four men and eight women were told this morning that her next door neighbours "heard raised voices" coming from the address at around 5.30pm on Saturday, March 11, before finding Mr Anderson "banging and kicking at their door" roughly 45 minutes later. The 24-year-old was apparently "seeking help", although the occupants were described as being "frightened by the disturbance" and instead called the police.
He too dialled 999 while sitting seriously injured on their doorstep to report that he had been stabbed. Mr Anderson "repeatedly told the operator that he was dying" but added that he "did not know who had stabbed him or where they were".
Many of his answers were said to have been "incoherent", with the casualty left vomiting such were the severity of his wounds. The call handler could hear Bennett's voice in the background though and asked to speak to her instead, at which point she "effectively took over the call".
She told the operator that Mr Anderson had "stab wounds all over him" which she believed were "a bit deep". But the defendant claimed that she did not know who had stabbed him, saying: "He's come in like that."
He was later found to have suffered superficial slash wounds to his neck, right shoulder, lower back and left forearm, as well as a "shallow" stab wound to his right lower leg. But Mr Anderson had also sustained a "deep stab wound" to his chest, which damaged his left lung and heart.
After being rushed to Aintree Hospital, he underwent "what was hoped to be life-saving surgery" but died 20 days later in the early hours of March 31 – just over a week shy of what would have been his 25th birthday on April 8. Mr Pratt said: "The medical evidence suggests that this was not just one blow with a knife, but one of several wounds.
"The slash wounds may have been superficial in nature and the stab to the leg may be of a shallow depth, but together they demonstrate a concerted attack which provides the background for the fatal wound to the chest. It is our case that Natalie Bennett lied to the operator because she knew full well what she had done and had no excuse for it."
Mr Pratt said that Ring doorbell footage recovered from the neighbour's house showed Bennett "holding a knife to the head of the distraught and injured Mr Anderson" with her right hand and "using it either to strike Kasey Anderson in the head or at the very least hold it close to his head". He added: "Thus, we suggest, she continued to demonstrate hostility towards him even after she must have known she had stabbed him in the chest."
When officers arrived, she again alleged that he had arrived at her home "like that" and claimed that the first time she had seen him that evening was when she heard him banging on her next door neighbour's home. Bennett would subsequently give no comment to detectives under interview, but it is anticipated that she will claim during the trial that she inflicted Mr Anderson's fatal wound "in lawful self-defence".
Crime scene investigators later discovered a clump of her hair on the floor of the house, which appeared to have been "forcibly removed" from her head. A "number of sharp implements" were meanwhile found in the kitchen sink, "having apparently been soaked in water at least" and with no blood found upon them while the address was said to have "smelled strongly of cleaning fluids".
Bennett, who is represented by Stanley Reiz KC, denies murder. The trial, before Judge Denis Watson KC, continues and is due to last around one week.
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