Woman stabbed boyfriend and left him to bleed to death
A WOMAN has been convicted of killing her boyfriend by repeatedly stabbing him and then leaving him to bleed to death outside her Birmingham flat.
The body of Gary Cunningham, 29, was discovered in Frensham Way, off Station Road, in Harborne, by a delivery driver after the frenzied attack by Olivia Labinjo-Halcrow.
A jury at Birmingham Crown Court found Labinjo-Halcrow, 26, not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, following a three-week trial. Labinjo-Halcrow, who had failed to attend court for the latter part of the trial, was not present in the dock when the jury returned its verdict.
Judge Simon Drew QC, who said that she had mental health difficulties, adjourned sentence to a date to be fixed.
Kate Bex QC, prosecuting, said the pair had been on a drink and drugs binge before the killing.
She said Labinjo-Halcrow had been Mr Cunningham’s on and off girlfriend and that she had a young son from a previous relationship.
She shared parental responsibilities with the father, who she was separated from, and there had been “jealousy between the different parties”.
Text messages between Labinjo-Halcrow and Mr Cunningham suggested there had been a history of physical violence towards each other.
Labinjo-Halcrow lived in a block of flats in Frensham Way. A neighbour had heard “banging and screaming” in the early hours of February 23 this year.
Ms Bex said in the morning Mr Cunningham had gone out to a garage, had taken £50 out using Labinjo-Halcrow’s credit card and then bought some vodka. Later the victim was found by a delivery driver propped up against a fire exit door with blood around him.
He had been stabbed 12 times with one of the wounds to his left leg, just below the knee, severing an artery. Ms Bex said there was evidence Mr Cunningham and the defendant had taken cocaine and had been drinking alcohol. Halcrow was three-and-a-half times over the alcohol limit for driving when the victim died from his injuries.
Ali Bajwa, defending, said Halcrow accepted having caused the injuries but had no memory of having inflicted them.
He said that she had been subjected by Mr Cunningham to a controlling, manipulative and abusive relationship.