A GIRL of nine told a court yesterday that on the night Tracie Andrews is alleged to have murdered her boyfriend, Lee Harvey, she heard two people - one an angry man, the other with “a softer voice” - arguing outside her home.
She said she lay in bed listening as the man shouted in a rough voice. “I know the man wasn't very happy,” she said. “He sounded quite fierce to the other person.”
The child, who cannot be named, was filmed as she was interviewed by a woman police officer. Extracts from the 37-minute video recording were played to the jury at Birmingham Crown Court.
She was seen in school uniform, toying tensely with a teddy bear, as she answered questions about what happened outside the house near Alvechurch, Hereford and Worcester, on the night of Dec 1 last year.
Andrews, 28, denies murdering Mr Harvey, 25. She claims that an unknown motorist stabbed him following a roadside dispute. During yesterday's hearing she left the dock for three minutes, complaining of feeling unwell.
The child witness told the court: “I woke up because I could hear the noise and the curtains were lit up and I could hear some people talking outside. It sounded as if they were arguing, though I didn't hear what they said.”
One of the first people on the murder scene was Susan Duncan, a former West Midlands Police detective constable who lived nearby, the court was told.
She told how she had found Andrews distressed, crying and covered in blood. When asked if she had heard a second vehicle speeding away, Mrs Duncan replied: “I heard absolutely nothing.”
The trial continues.