Man, 45, ‘shot dead girlfriend, 37, told 999 she ran into a pool cue after shooting her in the forehead with a gun’
A man shot dead his girlfriend at home and told 999 she bumped into a pool cue after an argument, a court heard.
Richard Basson, 45, is accused of shooting Carrie Salter in the forehead with an illegal pistol in Long Clawson, near Melton Mowbray.
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He then called 999, where he was heard saying: “What are you going to say? You had a stake through your head”.
Jurors were told this was aimed at Carrie, 37, who died from a non-survivable brain injury.
Basson also claimed the pair had argued over “half a cigarette” before she came at him with a carving knife, Leicester Crown Court heard.
Prosecutor John Lloyd-Jones KC said: “He said she came at him with a carving knife. He said he was beaten and broke his hand.
“He said he poked her with a pool cue. He said the cue entered and penetrated her forehead.
“Key parts of the story this defendant gave during the 999 call were untrue.
‘At the time of this fatal incident, Carrie was not approaching him with a knife. There had been, ladies and gentlemen, no pool cue.’
The court heard Basson fired two live rounds from one of three illegal firearms he was holding at the time.
One bullet hit a wall in the house, while the second struck Carrie in the center of her head, Lloyd-Jones said.
She was rushed to hospital, but unfortunately could not be saved and died two days later.
a Home office pathologist later found the bullet that killed her while Police found the gun and two empty cartridges in the couple’s garden.
Jurors were told that Basson, who had 68 live rounds of ammunition on the property, had previously been violent towards Carrie.
He was convicted in 2006 of battery in connection with an incident a year earlier in which a man was stabbed, jurors heard.
Mr Lloyd-Jones said: “He was no stranger to the use of unlawful force. Carrie’s sisters remember seeing her with bruises.”
Basson denies the murder and the trial continues.