A loving wife allegedly stabbed her husband of almost 30 years to death with a paring knife, a trial has heard. Daryl Berman, 71, is accused of murdering David Berman, 84, at their home on Butterstile Lane, Prestwich.
Mrs Berman has pleaded not guilty and is on trial at Minshull Street Crown Court. It is alleged Mrs Berman deliberately stabbed her husband in the chest for a reason known only to her. She told police her husband's injuries and death were accidental. She said he fell over in the kitchen and landed on a little paring knife she had used for her lunch, the court heard.
Prosecution's Case
Michael Brady KC, prosecuting, said Mr Berman's death was initially treated as an accident by police. Mrs Berman called emergency services at 1.55pm on March 13 last year. Despite the best efforts of paramedics, he was pronounced dead at their home at 2.39pm, jurors were told. Mr Brady said that after another doctor was troubled by the injury, a pathologist was called in. They concluded the stab wound had typical features of a homicide, jurors were told.
The pathologist claimed that while it was not impossible, an accidental fall was very unlikely to have caused the fatal wound. Mr Berman was found to have a wound to his finger, which prosecutors said had pathological features typically seen in a fatal assault with a blade.
Marriage and Grief
The couple's marriage was loving and mutually supportive, and there had been no record of domestic violence or involvement with police over the 27 years they were together. Mrs Berman was described as a very supportive and loving wife. However, the prosecutor added: Although there is no set way to respond to and deal with grief in the days following David's death, members of his family noticed how matter of fact and emotionless the defendant was. That she was acting as though nothing had happened and even seemed untroubled about going into the kitchen.
Mr Brady told jurors Mrs Berman's explanation that her husband's injury had been caused accidentally was initially accepted by police. The court heard Mr Berman had been diagnosed with dementia, used a walking stick, and had been suffering from shortness of breath in the 10 days prior. However, he had been in the best health his family had seen for some time, Mr Brady added.
Events of the Day
Earlier on March 13, Mr Berman had been with his daughter and great granddaughter at a play centre. Jurors were told Mrs Berman called 999 that afternoon and gave CPR under the instructions of the operator. In response to being asked what happened, she said: I don't know. I was in the other room. He's carried a tray in. And all I can see is the tray. I think there was a knife. I don't know whether the little knife that was there has gone into him and stabbed him. I really don't know what's happened.
The first paramedic to arrive saw Mr Berman lying on his back on the kitchen floor. After a police officer arrived and spoke with Mrs Berman, she is said to have told him: You don't think I've murdered him, do you?
Investigation and Arrest
Prosecutors said the officer also spoke with Mr Berman's son, who said his father was clumsy and was always falling. Mr Berman's death was not initially treated as suspicious, but five days later, when the pathologist carried out a post-mortem examination, concerns were raised. Mrs Berman was arrested on suspicion of murder later that evening.
During an interview with police, she told officers she and her husband had both had lunch in the lounge and that Mr Berman had offered to take her tray into the kitchen. She said: And he obviously walked into the kitchen, and I heard what sounded like a stumble or a fall. And straight away I said 'oh my God, David, what's wrong?'. He said 'it's okay I've slipped'. And I sort of almost immediately heard another sort of bang, and a sort of groan. So I got up. I screamed and I ran into the kitchen. And I found him face down. He was making the most peculiar sound, I sort of looked down, moved his head a bit. And I thought 'what on earth is all this gravy? We don't have gravy'. And it was the amount of blood, I've never seen anything like it in my life. I got the shock of my life because I didn't know where it was coming from. I just... I just couldn't understand. And I was screaming, I said 'David, David'... I said 'you can't go like this'.
Concluding his opening, Mr Brady said: May David Berman's death be the result of a tragic accident, the injury sustained in a fall? Or is his death the consequence, for a reason known only to her, of the defendant attacking and stabbing her husband to the chest having also caused a stab wound to his finger while he defended himself from that attack?
Mrs Berman, of Butterstile Lane, Prestwich, denies murder. The trial continues.
