Murder accused shot partner in forehead with illegally held handgun, jury told

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An alleged murderer accused of shooting his partner in the forehead with a handgun rang 999 and claimed she had hurt herself by running into a pool cue, a jury has heard.

Richard Basson, 45, is alleged to have used one of three firearms he held illegally to shoot Carrie Slater, causing her an unsurvivable brain injury.

A trial at Leicester Crown Court was told Basson dialled 999 from the couple’s home in the village of Long Clawson, near Melton Mowbray, shortly before 6.45pm on September 21 last year, as his partner sat injured nearby.

During the half-hour call, part of which was played to jurors, Basson claimed to have had an argument “over half a cigarette” and to have jabbed at Ms Slater with a pool cue after she came at him with a carving knife.

John Lloyd-Jones KC, prosecuting, said Basson dialled 999 on his mobile from his house in Kings Road, telling the operators he believed a metal band from the cue was stuck under his partner’s scalp.

Opening the case, Mr Lloyd-Jones said of Basson: “He rang to report that Carrie had been injured.

“He said that she had come at him with a carving knife. He said that he had been struck and had broken his hand.

“He said that he had jabbed at her with a pool cue. He said that it had entered and penetrated her forehead.”

Mr Lloyd-Jones told the jury: “Important parts of that account that this defendant gave in that 999 call were not true.

“At the time of this fatal incident, Carrie had not come at him with a knife. There had, ladies and gentlemen, been no pool cue.”

Holding up a firearm to show it to the jury, the prosecutor told the court: “Instead, this defendant on that evening had taken this – one of the handguns that this defendant illegally possessed at the time.

“With this loaded handgun he fired two live rounds.

“One of the bullets hit a wall inside the house. The other bullet hit Carrie right in the middle of her head and killed her.”

As well as a recording of the 999 call, jurors were shown police bodycam footage of Basson, also known as Rick, being detained by officers armed with a Taser.

It is alleged Basson had 68 rounds of live ammunition at the property.

Basson and Ms Slater had an on-off relationship for a number of years and he had previously been violent towards her, the court heard.

Mr Lloyd-Jones said of Basson: “He was no stranger to the use of unlawful violence. Carrie’s sisters remember seeing her with bruises.”

Just as the 999 call connected, Mr Lloyd-Jones alleged, Basson was heard to say: “What are you going to say? You had a pole through your head.”

Mr Lloyd-Jones told the jury: “That remark seemed to be directed towards Carrie, who seems to have been sitting close to him gravely injured.”

Ms Slater, 37, died in hospital two days after the incident and the bullet which killed her was later recovered by a Home Office pathologist, the court heard.

The gun alleged to have been used to kill Ms Slater – a self-loading pistol – was found in the garden of the property, near two empty cartridges.

A bullet head was also discovered in a bedroom, bearing traces of plaster and paint indistinguishable from the material around a bullet hole in the hallway.

Mr Lloyd-Jones said: “It’s the prosecution case that this defendant fired at Carrie but missed and hit the wall behind her.”

The jury was also told that Basson, who denies murder, was convicted of wounding in 2006 at Peterborough Crown Court in relation to an incident a year earlier in which a man was stabbed.

The trial continues.