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.
She was probably lugging around a car battery.
That acid'll getcha every time.
A variant of the Menendez defense. "I don't know what happened, it just went bang."
She "shot off" prematurely.
I thought guns were illegal in england.
Good morning.
I meant to add, "Or so I've been told." :-)
If she didn't tell them this story at the time, then they probably didn't. I found my father dead in his bed and called 911. I tried to do CPR. The paramedics and the police arrived. The police were asking me questions, but I can't tell you what I answered. My concentration was solely on the paramedics. I just kept hoping they were going to revive Daddy and tell me it was all okay. I know the police needed the info, but I just couldn't care about them and what they were asking at the time. Because of this, I really can believe that it is possible that she didn't tell the police exactly what happened.
No.
Regards, Ivan
"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."
Shotguns have a way of doing that.
That's what I thought. ;-)
LOL!
That's true.
You is bad:)
I'm fairly certain the Shania Excuse is going to be standard practice among defense lawyers.
Regards, Ivan
"It was a game, it was a game", she said. "It was just a sexual game."
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.
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