The son of a woman on trial for the murder of her husband has told a jury the dead man had subjected his mother to years of physical and psychological abuse.
Christine Rawle, 70, is on trial at Exeter crown court for allegedly murdering her husband of 27 years at their smallholding in north Devon. She told police after his death aged 72 that he had been violent, sexually abusive and financially controlling. Thomas said he remembered an argument developing when he was a child over plans to renovate a bay window. He said: “He punched my mum and grabbed her and forced her out through the window.” Thomas recalled that she was cut and bleeding.
In 1996, Thomas said, Ian became angry when he could not grasp some maths homework. He said Ian hit him around the head with a metal ruler and then hurled an ashtray at his leg, which was hot because it was on a mantelpiece over an open fire and left a severe burn. He said Ian “ransacked” the kitchen when a meal was not what he wanted and often threw meals he did not approve of.