Posted on 03/30/2006 2:29:34 AM PST by MadIvan
A woman accused of murdering her husband of two months, said yesterday that she shot him accidentally as she danced provocatively for him with his shotgun to the music of Shania Twain.
Linda West, 49, was called upon to demonstrate in court how she had gyrated to the song Man! I Feel Like a Woman, using a broom handle to represent the gun.
She said she had decided to arouse her husband Gregory, 45, who was wearing only a dressing gown after getting out of the bath. It was a "sexual game" that had tragic consequences, she said.
Mr West was found dead in an armchair by police after his wife made a hysterical 999 call. He had a single shotgun wound to his chest.
Giving evidence in her defence at Winchester Crown Court, Hants, West said they had shared a "lovely evening" at their Southampton home. They had drunk wine and she had run a bath for her husband.
When he came out of the bathroom she decided to put on a show and began dancing to the music of the country singer, which was playing on a stereo. The song contains erotically-charged lyrics.
She said Mr West then disappeared into the bedroom of their flat and reappeared with his BSA500 shotgun and asked her to dance with it.
West re-enacted her moves using the broom handle, telling the jury: "I'm holding the barrels of the gun and I'm dancing holding the gun. I was entertaining my husband."
She said that at the end of the song she put the shotgun on to the floor beside her. With tears streaming down her face she said: "It just went off…it just went bang."
A weapons expert told the court that the safety catch, used to prevent the accidental firing of the gun, was faulty and it could have gone off without anyone touching the trigger. West told the court that she was unaware of the fault.
The prosecution claims the couple had argued after drinking and West had deliberately shot her husband, a marine engineer, in anger. Neighbours had reported hearing shouting coming from their flat.
West insisted that she had been cavorting to fulfil her husband's fantasy, when tragedy struck.
"It was a game, it was a game", she said. "It was just a sexual game."
Describing her hysterical reaction after the gun went off, West said: "I was trying to wake him up. I was slapping his face and trying to open his eyes, and he just wouldn't wake up."
Asked why she had not mentioned the sex game when interviewed by police, she said she had been confused.
The jury has heard that Mr West, a keen shooter, had been wearing only a blue dressing gown and no underwear at the time of his death.
In her 999 call West had said: "We were playing with a gun, it just went off. I don't believe it."
Armed police surrounded the flat before finally entering the property and arresting her.
Tests showed that West had consumed a quantity of alcohol that was more than twice the legal drink-driving limit.
She denies murdering her husband on May 9 last year. She also denies manslaughter.
The trial continues.
Right now, she's probably up singing some
white-trash version of Shania karaoke..
Right now, she's probably saying "I'm drunk"
and he's a thinking that he's gonna get lucky,
SD
You're assuming he was sitting upright. You have to put yourself in the situation.....they were playing a sex game with a loaded gun, listening to Shania Twain.....let your imagination go wild here.
You're assuming he was sitting upright. You have to put yourself in the situation.....they were playing a sex game with a loaded gun, listening to Shania Twain.....let your imagination go wild here.
You're assuming that the gun went off while the gun was lying perfectly flat on the floor. It seems to me more likely that someone setting a shotgun down (especially someone who is drunk) might not have held the gun perfectly parallel to the floor at all times. More likely is that she was setting it down on an angle, and the barrel was still pointing up when the butt of the rifle touched the ground, causing the discharge.
SD
Oh I can imagine all sorts , and if the gun truly was faulty, then I suppose she's lucky(if you can call it that) she didn't shoot herself.
Is the BSA500 shotgun a pump shooter?
Shotguns don't kill,erotic dancers do.
The song contains erotically-charged lyrics.
The song just doesn't do a darn thing for me, nevermind the part about a man in a dressing robe insisting I dance with a gun.
How could he get a single shotgun wound to his chest if the shotgun is laying on the ground and he is in a chair? It does not make sense. I would think that there would be wounds to his legs instead or along with.
A weapons expert told the court that the safety catch, used to prevent the accidental firing of the gun, was faulty and it could have gone off without anyone touching the trigger.
I have a feeling she either a) shot him on purpose or b) with the faulty safety accidently pulled the trigger while dancing. I am leaning more towards A due to the story not adding up.
That doesn't bother me. What I can't get over is their insistence on clinging to those old-fashioned separate hot and cold water taps. The hot water comes out of one spigot, the cold comes out of another. So when you wash your hands, you have to hold your hands under one faucet, then another. Scald, freeze. Scald, freeze.
If she did shoot him on purpose, she's got one of the most creative false alibis I've ever heard of.
Headline of the day ping!
Oh, sure.. it's all fun and Shania Twain sex games until someone gets hurt.
LOL!
Ping!
PS... I shouldn't laugh - it's not polite.
BWAAAAHAAAHAAA
We are talking TAGLINE here!
A shotgun is no substitute for a brass poll.
I blame Bush.
Might wanna change that tagline to "pole", unless you're talking about a survey ;-)
His tagline and he spells it wrong! Damn that Larry!
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