A jury found a Taranaki woman not guilty of intentionally stabbing her partner today with broken lolly jar - and the pair then went home together.
The odd relationship of Margaret Russell, 67, and Morris Leathart was revealed during her trial this week.
The couple still live in the same house, despite Russell being charged with intending to cause him grievous bodily harm after police found him bleeding profusely from two wounds in his upper arms at their Waitara home a year ago, the Taranaki Daily News reported.
Russell told the jury yesterday that she had mistakenly broken his lolly jar when she bashed it on the headboard to get his attention and shut him up after he went to bed drunk.
She said she had not deliberately stabbed him with the broken pieces. Both his injuries were accidental, she said.
But Mr Leathart told the jury she aimed the broken glass jar at his head, stabbing at him about five times while he was in bed.
The jury deliberated for just over an hour before finding her not guilty.
Russell was all smiles, thanking jury members as she and Mr Leathart headed off home.
The jury learned how the two had been together for 12 years, slept in separate bedrooms, and seldom talked to each other.
Mr Leathart said each day he would head inside promptly at 6pm for his dinner, or Ms Russell would put it in the bin.
After tea, he would head off to bed about 6.30pm because "Maggie became argumentative". "She could be quite aggro at times, yelling and screaming at me."
