Feb 25 - Murder Trial Starts At Supreme Court
The trial of a man accused of killing his wife in their Gib V flat started in the Supreme Court this morning.
Real Lishman, 43, is accused of murdering his wife 32-year-old Carolina Elizabeth Lishman by stabbing her numerous times with a knife. He denies the charge and has pleaded not guilty.
Speaking on behalf of the Crown this morning, the Director of Public Prosecution Christian Rocca said that although it was understandably not possible for the deceased to give evidence, her injuries spoke “loudly and clearly.”
He warned the twelve members of the jury that some of the evidence they would have to consider during the trial might be “distressing” but reminded them that any emotion or sympathy they felt could not play a part in how they assessed such evidence.
NOVEMBER 2017
The case dates back to the evening of 8th November 2017 when the RGP received a call at around 18:35 that a suspected murder had occurred in a flat in Apricot Court in Sir William Jackson Grove (Gib V). The flat belonged to the couple but Ms Lishman was no longer living there and had started a relationship with another man.
The couple’s daughter, who was six years old at the time, raised the alarm by telling a neighbour that her mother had stabbed her father and that her father was trying to stab himself but that both were “on the floor, playing dead.”
When officers entered the flat, they found Carolina Lishman curled up on the floor next to the fridge in the kitchen and her husband Real, the accused, in the corridor near the entrance to the kitchen.
When asked by police what had happened, Lishman replied that they had had a fight: “She stabbed me and I stabbed her.”
An RGP officer and paramedics who arrived later administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation to Ms Lishmann but she was pronounced dead at 19:37.
She had been stabbed twelve times with a knife including one fatal blow which had pierced right through her heart. This blow was delivered with what Mr Rocca described as “extreme, severe force.”
Real Lishman also sustained seven wounds including a life-threatening injury to his intercostal artery which required emergency surgery at St. Bernard’s Hospital.
On the 27th November 2017, he was discharged from hospital to New Mole House where he was charged with murder. The defendant exercised his right to silence and has been on remand at HMP Windmill Hill since he was charged.
The defence, led by Chris Finch, argue that Lishman acted in self-defence. Mr Finch said he does not dispute the Crown’s time frame of events or the extent of the injuries but he does dispute how those injuries were caused claiming that the accused’s wounds were caused by Ms Lishman.
BODY CAM FOOTAGE
This afternoon, jurors watched footage recorded by the body cam worn by one of the two RGP officers who arrived first at the scene. The officer is seen removing a knife from Ms Lishman’s hand with his baton. The Crown claim that Real Lishman placed the knife there after stabbing himself.
The footage also showed the numerous attempts to resuscitate Carolina Lishman conducted by the RGP and paramedics.
The trial is being heard by the Chief Justice Anthony Dudley. Mr Rocca is assisted by Carl Ramagge and Mr Finch by Leigh Debono.
The trial, which continues tomorrow, could last up to three weeks.
{fcomment}
