Vicious assault in kitchen

JURORS heard during the 10-day trial that violent Rizzo attacked his girlfriend shortly after they arrived back at her flat following a night out in local bar Hudsons.

The pair argued and after she returned home to her Swan Street flat, Rizzo kicked down the front door before launching the vicious assault in her kitchen.

The trial heard from witnesses who told how Rizzo had made contrasting claims as to what happened on the night of the murder.

In what prosecutor Duncan McPhie described as “far-fetched” and “entirely inconsistent” accounts, Rizzo had told his mother several weeks after his arrest that he found two men in black inside the property when he entered.

He claimed the men said his girlfriend owed them money and took turns stabbing her before forcing him to place his hands in her blood and handle the knives.

They then reportedly told Rizzo “this is what happens to people who don’t pay us what they owe us” before forcing him in the shower and adding “this isn’t the first time we’ve done this”.

Rizzo had earlier told police just hours after his arrest he saw a suspicious figure in the alley and heard a man arguing with Miss Smith while he was in the shower.

However, he failed to make any mention of the two mystery killers at the time – despite being interviewed for more than three hours.

Taking to the stand near the beginning of the trial, downstairs neighbour Stephen Alexander, 59, said he heard several “disturbing” thuds like someone was “hitting the floor with a hammer” just after midnight on the night of the murder.

Shortly after, Rizzo appeared at his door “panicked” and begged him to help his girlfriend, who Mr Alexander found covered in blood and unresponsive on the kitchen floor.

He described the sight of her body next to smashed glass and food as like a “scene of carnage” and said he tried in vain to revive her.

First responder Angela McKenzie told the court she arrived at the scene to see two police officers performing CPR and holding a towel to large wounds to Miss Smith’s neck.

She compared the aftermath of the murder to a horror movie.

Keith Rizzo