Boyfriend stabbed teenage mother in eyes and throat in front of toddler, murder trial told

Katrina Evemy's on off boyfriend, Dylan Harries, denies murder

Katrina Evemy ( Dyfed-Powys Police)

A teenage mother who died after being stabbed in front of her toddler daughter was stabbed in both eyes, her throat, and forehead by her attacker, a court has heard.

Katrina Evemy also suffered a "sharp force" injury to her neck which severed her left vocal cord and a wound to her abdomen which injured her liver among other injuries during the attack on 13 April, Swansea Crown Court heard.

Dylan Harries, 22, the 19-year-old's on-off boyfriend who is on trial accused of murdering her, claims that he found her on the floor at her home in Llanelli, South Wales, after an unknown person attacked her.

The prosecution allege that Harries, of Panteg, Felinfoel, Llanelli, took an 8cm blade from his house and went to confront Miss Evemy after finding she kissed another man some weeks before, and inflicted the wounds while her 22-month-old daughter watched and became covered in her mother's blood.

The court heard Miss Evemy went into cardiac arrest at the scene but that paramedics managed to resuscitate her and she was rushed to Morriston Hospital in Swansea.

Dr John Gorst, a consultant in intensive care and anaesthesia, told the jury an initial full body CT scan found Miss Evemy had a swollen brain caused by "profound lack of oxygen to the brain" during cardiac arrest.

She also had separate, traumatic bleeding on the brain and a skull fracture which could have been cause by a blow to the head or by her hitting her head on something.

Miss Evemy was taken into emergency surgery to repair the "life-threatening" liver and neck injuries, which were still bleeding, he said.

Dr Gorst added that there were 1cm wounds above each eye which "appeared to have penetrated the eyelid and the soft tissue behind the eyelid but (we were) unable to say whether it has penetrated the eyeball".

He said Miss Evemy's condition deteriorated and on April 19 brainstem tests confirmed that she had died.

Pathologist Dr Stephen Leadbeatter, who carried out the post-mortem examination, said he noted injuries to Miss Evemy's head, eyes, face, neck, chest, abdomen, thigh, arm, hands and back.

"The wound in each eyelid was in my view a stab wound to each eye and there had been some damage to the optic nerve on the left," he said.

Dr Leadbeatter said he found four "punctuate" injuries on Miss Evemy's forehead which had the "appearance of a stab from a point".

When asked about cause of death, he said: "Death had resulted from the change that one sees in the brain as a consequence of poor supply of blood or oxygen and that that had followed resuscitation from a cardiac arrest.

"The reason for there being a cardiac arrest was as a consequence of sharp force injuries to the neck and belly which had been repaired (by surgery)."

The court previously heard Harries went to Miss Evemy's house at around 5pm carrying a knife which he had taken from his own home about two miles away.

Patrick Harrington QC, for the prosecution, said Harries could be seen on the CCTV "adjusting the knife" in his hand as he walked to her house.

Mr Harrington added that Harries stayed in the house for 40 to 45 minutes without contacting the emergency services before raising the alarm with neighbours and claiming Miss Evemy was attacked before he arrived.

Mr Harrington said: "He still maintains a pretence that he was not responsible for her injuries but that he had happened upon her lying dying on the kitchen floor having been attacked by some unknown person. This is all a lie, he was the person responsible for the attack upon Katrina."

The trial, expected to last two weeks, continues.