The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Woman ‘hates herself’ for killing her husband
Court told how mother will never be able to forgive herself for stabbing
A mother-of-four stabbed her husband to death before telling a police support worker: “The kids will never forgive me for killing their father.”
Louise Anderson inflicted a single knife wound to the calf of her husband Douglas’s right leg which resulted in heavy blood loss after they were heard arguing at their Perth home.
She later revealed: “I didn’t mean to kill him. It was in the leg. He wasn’t meant to die.”
Anderson , 36, later wrote to a relative from prison and said in the letter: “I can’t ask for anyone’s forgiveness as I will never be able to forgive myself and believe me when I say that no one can hate me as much as I hate myself.
“If I could trade places with Dougie I would in a heartbeat but I can’t and I will always have to live with that.”
Anderson was originally charged with murdering her husband on February 25 this year at the home they shared in Dunnock Park but yesterday pleaded guilty to the reduced charge of culpable homicide by striking him on the leg with a knife and killing him.
At the High Court in Edinburgh Lord Uist continued the case for the preparation of a background report on her ahead of sentencing. Anderson was remanded in custody.
Advocate depute Jane Farquharson said taxi driver Mr Anderson, 39, was described by friends as “a popular family man”.
Anderson and her husband were seen on the night of the incident on CCTV walking through streets in Perth before he returned home alone and appeared very drunk to his mother-in-law.
Anderson remained in town drinking with friends and footage taken after midnight at a bar showed her appearing unsteady on her feet. She got a taxi home just after 1am but needed help to get out of the vehicle.
They were later heard in an argument about Mr Anderson’s sister and Anderson’s mother, who had returned to her own nearby home, was alerted to return to their house.
She went back to the house and saw a lot of blood and found her daughter on the phone making a 999 call kneeling over Mr Anderson.
Miss Farquharson said: “A pool of the deceased’s blood was found in the bedroom he shared with the accused, indicating where the stabbing had taken place and his blood was distributed on the bannisters from the top of the stairs going down.”
The stab wound on his leg was found to have severed both an artery and vein.
Anderson initially claimed to police that she had found her husband outside lying on the ground holding his leg, before helping inside and trying to stem the flow of blood.
Defence counsel Ronnie Renucci said it was “a totally tragic case”. He said she loved her husband very much and added: “Even now she cannot envisage life without him.”