‘Biggest knife’ used in killing

AUCKLAND: It was meant to be a funfilled girls’ day out as a group of Auckland women and their children met in a Te Atatu home last October to get their nails and eyelashes done.

Instead, the ‘‘pamper party’’ would end with one guest stabbing another woman in the neck so violently she would die just 15 minutes after paramedics arrived after bleeding uncontrollably, prosecutors say.

Anna Eiao Browne (37) is standing trial in the High Court at Auckland charged with Carly Stewart’s murder. She has pleaded not guilty.

Opening the Crown case yesterday, prosecutor Nick Webby said Browne was friends with Ms Stewart, but became increasingly aggressive during the party, before eventually heading into the Te Atatu home’s kitchen.

There she ‘‘picked up the biggest knife in the butcher’s block’’ before attacking Ms

Stewart.

Ms Stewart was left holding a towel against the side of her neck in the moments after the attack, according to recordings of 111 emergency calls.

Ms Stewart’s cousin, Patricia Stewart, told a St John paramedic that despite the towel being pressed against the wound, there was blood ‘‘everywhere’’, even running out her cousin’s mouth and nose.

In the background, women can be heard crying and then confronting Browne.

Constable Samuel Sweetman arrived as the women threw a chair at Browne.

Leaving his partner to arrest Browne, he went in to help Ms Stewart, who was sitting on a couch spitting blood.

Earlier, Mr Webby said that in contrast to how it ended, the day had started brightly.

Most of the women gathered were family or friends who came to have fun and get their nails and lashes done, he said.

Browne arrived early with bourbon and vodka and became abusive as the day progressed.

When she called a fellow guest a ‘‘gang whore’’, the party’s organiser and Ms Stewart remonstrated and both got into altercations with her.

‘‘How dare you, this is a family house, my nieces are here’’, Ms Stewart told Browne, Mr Webby said.

As the two were separated, Ms Stewart said, ‘‘I’ll be the bigger person, I’ll walk away’’.

Minutes later, Browne grabbed the knife and struck Ms Stewart in front of the other guests, including children, Mr Webby said.

Browne denied attacking Ms Stewart, and repeatedly claimed she had been under the influence of drugs, including PCP and GBH, Mr Webby said. However, a urine sample later detected no sign of either drug in her system, Mr Webby said. . — NZN