Leigh Park murder trial: Shaye Groves denies accusations she planned to kill Frankie Fitzgerald and did not act in self-defence

Shaye Groves, 27, plunged a dagger into Portsmouth dad Frankie Fitzgerald’s neck and chest 22 times at her Botley Drive, Leigh Park, home on July 17. Giving evidence to jurors at Winchester Crown Court for the second week, the defendant was quizzed over whether she had a short temperament and was planning on stabbing her lover in the build up to his death.

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Asked by prosecutor Steve Perian KC, cross-examining Groves, if she could ‘lose her temper easily’, the defendant said: ‘I’ve lost my temper a few times.’

Mr Perian responded: ‘Are you someone who might do someone harm?’ Groves hit back: ‘No, I’m a self-harmer so I harm myself before I hurt others.’

The prosecutor then asked if Groves could ‘snap’ and become ‘angry and violent’ to which the mum-of-one replied: ‘I don’t get violent…I have snapped but it is not an everyday thing.’

Questioned over a row between herself and Mr Fitzgerald in the days leading up to his killing, Mr Perian highlighted a comment from the defendant in which she said: ‘I could have put a knife into him last night.’

The prosecutor then added: ‘You planned to stab him?’ Groves struck back: ‘I never had any intention of stabbing him.’

Referring to the incident in which Mr Fitzgerald was killed, Groves said she ‘went to grab a money box’ before adding: ‘I couldn’t see what I grabbed. I hit him in the neck. That’s when I realised what I had done.’

Mr Perian asked Groves about the ‘bubbling’ noise coming from Mr Fitzgerald after he had been stabbed. ‘I knew I wanted to stop the noise. I didn’t know what to do. I panicked…I stabbed him in the chest,’ Groves said.

The prosecutor added: ‘You unlawfully took a man’s life. This was not self-defence?’

Groves shot back: ‘It was me defending myself.’

Mr Perian went on to add: ‘You planned to kill him?’ Groves replied: ‘No.’

Groves admitted that in the aftermath of the killing she lied to friend Vikki Baitup about telling her in a video call that Mr Fitzgerald was asleep when she stabbed him. ‘I told her he was asleep when he wasn’t,’ she said.

Mr Perian replied: ‘You made a deliberate decision to lie to your best friend?’ Groves replied: ‘Yes.’

The prosecutor also suggested Groves set up a ‘false narrative’ when she sent Ms Baitup a message claiming Mr Fitzgerald had ‘walked out on her again’, the defendant replied: ‘I lied to (Ms Baitup) yes.’

During questioning, Groves revealed she was ‘intrigued’ by serial killers with her listing notorious figures in pictures framed on her wall.

Mr Perian asked Groves whether she had ‘learned tricks of the trade’ from her gangster books to which she replied: ‘I know (that) no alibi is air tight. If you are going to kill someone the only logical way is to inject air into them.’

(Proceeding)