HAYLEY MURDER TRIAL: IN the witness box on Tuesday Hugo Quintas said it was Hayley Richards who started an argument that led to him trying to strangle her.

He admitted assaulting his pregnant girlfriend and causing her actual bodily harm on June 5, six days before she was found with her throat slit in her Carders Corner flat. After the attack she was treated in Trowbridge Hospital for injuries to her neck and throat and bruising to her hip.

Defending, Paul Garlick QC asked Quintas how he felt when several days later she showed him a mark on her back, which she said was caused by him pushing her against the stairs. Quintas told Bristol Crown Court he had apologised and been a bit shocked but added: "It wasn't really my fault, she started it."

He said the argument had begun on the morning of June 5 after Miss Richards got upset about putting the rubbish out. "She asked me to take rubbish out so I did. I put on sandals but they made a noise so she started having a go at me. "I was upset because there was no reason for her to have a go at me at all. We started swearing at each other."

Quintas then left Miss Richards' flat but returned later that afternoon to find her asleep on the sofa. He said he saw his clothes had been piled on the bed and got upset so placed his door key next to her. She woke up and the couple began arguing, swearing at each other and calling each other obscene names.

Quintas said: "She started to call me names and I don't like names. I asked her for my passport and she refused." The court heard Miss Richards then put his bags by the door and Quintas had become more upset and asked her to give him money he had put in a tin they shared.

He said: "I didn't trust her, she was just taking advantage of me. We both went to the door.

"She treated me as if I was an animal, pushing me out of the door. I was nervous, I grabbed her by the neck and I pushed her.

"I lost it because she treated me like an animal. I don't like it, no one likes to be provoked. I didn't like it and I don't think anybody does. At that point we both lost it, we'd had so many arguments."

He said Miss Richards had started crying when he pushed her and told him she was going to call the police. He admitted he had grabbed his girlfriend round the neck with his left hand. Mr Garlick asked how hard he had grabbed her and Quintas replied: "Well my left hand is not very strong."

When he got back to his home in Seymour Court he said he felt nervous and upset' and admitted sending an abusive text message later that afternoon.

  • The trial continues