Court told daughter ‘watched helplessly as mother was stabbed’

The pregnant daughter of a woman allegedly stabbed to death in a Dundee street has spoken of her horror as she watched on helplessly.

Jamie-Lee Low, 18, told of the moment she watched a woman on trial “stab” a knife into her mother’s body and then hold it to her throat while she lay bleeding.

She was giving evidence in the trail of Siobhan Russell, who is accused of striking her mother, 36-year-old Marie Low, on the body with a knife at Ballantrae Terrace on September 4 last year.

The 30-year-old’s trial began on Tuesday at the High Court in Aberdeen and she denied the charges against her – lodging a special defence of self-defence.

Giving evidence on the fourth day of the trial, Miss Low, who was pregnant at the time of the alleged incident, gave a tearful account of the moment when she alleges Russell stabbed her mum in front of her.

She also said that Russell held the knife – which she described as small and black – to Ms Low’s throat as she lay bleeding in the street.

She told the court that she had been at her mum’s house for breakfast – along with her older sister Demi, 20, her father John Hodge and her sister’s partner James McLean – but that he and the deceased had ventured to the home of Siobhan Russell after finding a jacket that belonged to the accused.

She said that the pair shouted on Russell from outside of her home – and that she came out of the block a short time later carrying a knife.

The pair began to fight in the street – and, according to JamieLee, Russell “stabbed” a knife into her mum’s chest in front of her.

She said: “Siobhan came out and she had the knife in her hand – she was shouting and screaming.

“My mum said f ****** c’mon then and started to walk towards her – I tried to get in the middle and told Siobhan to stop because I was pregnant.

“They were fighting and I was screaming for help.

“I watched her stab my mum – I watched her stab the knife into my mum’s chest or belly area.”

The trial continues.