THE man on trial for the murder of a retired school teacher yesterday told the court why he had chosen Ballymacormick Point to commit suicide.
Mr Richard Close (24) from Ballymaconnell Road, Bangor, Co Down, claims he was sitting near the coastal path about to cut his wrist when Mrs Daphne Taylor (59) approached and tried to take the knife away. He has given evidence that during a struggle they fell and he realised the knife had stabbed Mrs Taylor in the neck.
He told the court that as a child he had been physically and sexually abused by his father, and he would run away. The only place he felt safe was the cave at Ballymacormick Point and he used to go there and hide.
Mr Close admitted that at the time of the fatal stabbing he was "high on drugs" and in a highly excited state.
Mr Close was being cross examined as to which of the two stab wounds on the woman's neck he had seen when he held her head. But he told the court he had seen only one wound. He could not explain how she had received her other injuries a fractured breast bone, broken ribs and abrasions to the face.
But he denied a prosecution suggestion that he had knelt on the woman's body as he stabbed her in the throat before pushing her face into the ground.
The defendant agreed that his temper was extremely hard to control. "When I do lose it five minutes later I am told I did things I can't remember. That can be traced back to when I was a child".
After Mr Close left the witness box, two GPs gave evidence of treating him for self inflicted injuries on separate occasions in September 1994.
Evidence in the trial has now concluded, and final submissions by the prosecution and defence will be made today.