Prosecution and defence sum up in murder trial

A court has today heard two very different accounts of the circumstances surrounding the death of a 28 year-old Douglas man in March last year.

Billy Rogers died after being stabbed in the heart at a flat on Clifton Terrace.

Twenty-eight year-old Arizona Devine Watterson is accused of murdering him.

The prosecution and defence advocates today gave their closing speeches to the jury.

Edward Oldham was at the courthouse in Douglas and this was his report on Manx Radio (text, below, from attached audio file):

The prosecution advocate - Stuart Kneale, QC - today described Miss Watterson as a cold and calculating liar who deliberately misled police because behind those lies was a truth so damning she didn't want to reveal it.

He described her claims that stabbing Mr Rogars was the result of a game which went wrong as nonsense, saying she had to know how much damage the knife would cause if thrust at that area of his body.

But Anthony Berry, QC, acting for the defence, painted a very different picture.

He said evidence from friends of the pair showed they were alcoholics who were both very drunk and unsteady on their feet that night.

They were prone to play-fighting and doing things which, though bizarre by other people's standards, were normal to them.

The case will continue at 10.30am on Monday, when Acting Deemster Turner will sum up for the jury before they retire.