Murdered Wolverhampton woman screamed as made call to husband, court told
The husband of a woman stabbed to death in a Wolverhampton hotel bedroom could have heard the onslaught being launched during a 23-second mobile phone call from her, a jury heard.
Factory worker Mr Pal Singh explained to Wolverhampton Crown Court: "She told me she had got mixed up with a guy.
"I was at work and the machines were on. She could have said 'I'm dying.' She screamed as she spoke. I thought she was under attack and was very anxious but I did not know where she was. The police were contacted."
His wife Amandeep Kaur Hothi , a 29-year-old mother of two, was repeatedly slashed across the throat at the Britannia Hotel in Wolverhampton city centre on March 5 by Gurminder Singh, also 29, with whom she had been in a secret year-long relationship, said Robert Price, prosecuting.
The jury saw a video in which the defendant declared his love for the victim hours before the incident. Gurminder Singh filmed himself on his phone at Euston Station before travelling to Wolverhampton on the day of the stabbing.
He has admitted delivering the fatal blows but denies murder on the grounds that he was not in control of his actions when tragedy struck.
But he dismissed a suggestion that he said 'I have found out' during the video clip that Mr Robert Price, prosecuting, maintained 'sheds powerful light on the state of his mind.' Singh insisted that he actually said 'we both love each other a lot.'
He had made at least nine trips to Wolverhampton to see her, and had stayed overnight at the Britannia Hotel once before her death, the jury heard.
Mrs Hothi, who lived in Wolverhampto, told the defendant her name was Simran Sandhu and used a second mobile phone to communicate with him, it was said. Her husband knew nothing of the relationship and Singh had not realised she was married, the court was told.
Mr Price claimed the defendant had discovered that his relationship with Mrs Hothi was not as he had perceived it to be and 'wanted to do something about it.'
Mrs Hothi was twice seen crying at work at Takhar Travel in Smethwick but would not tell colleagues what was wrong, the court heard.
Singh, from Forest Gate, was waiting for her and travelled with her to Wolverhampton where they went to the hotel. The couple were filmed walking to Room 125 where she was later knifed to death on March 5 and the defendant cut his own throat but survived. The trial continues.
