A HUSBAND stabbed his university lecturer wife to death just 24 hours after she made a chilling prediction, a court heard.
Ertan Ersoy, 51, is accused of knifing Dr Antonella Castelvedere, 52, “many times” at their home in Colchester, Essex.
East Anglia News ServiceDr Antonella Castelvedere was stabbed to death at the family home[/caption]
East Anglia News ServiceHer husband has denied murder[/caption]
He then ran out on to the street saying he thought he had killed his wife following the horror on June 1 last year, it is said.
Prosecutor Christopher Paxton KC told jurors today Ersoy’s “anger, jealousy and his failings led to him killing his wife”.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard the couple married in 2014 and shared a daughter but their relationship “appeared to be volatile, unstable and rocky”.
Ersoy believed his wife, who taught an MA in English and creative writing at the University of Suffolk, was cheating.
He bugged the family home with a listening device but this “proved no such thing”, it was said.
Ersoy had also searched for a private investigator online and was allegedly “obsessed” with his wife’s previous relationships.
On one occasion, he followed her to work and accused her of “betrayal”, the court heard.
Before her death, Dr Castelvedere had told a friend her husband had “fallen back into a dark state of mind and I fear for my safety”.
Mr Paxton said: “She was right to fear for her safety because just hours later the defendant, perhaps letting his guard down, told a friend that at times he wanted to kill his wife Antonella to get it over and done with.
“Within 24 hours Antonella lay dead on the kitchen floor in the family home she shared with her husband Mr Ersoy.”
Dr Castelvedere had suffered a 15cm knife wound on her neck that “resulted in severe blood loss, cardiac arrest and her death”, jurors heard.
She also had 15 “sharp force” injuries to her face, neck, chest and hands.
Police later discovered notes she made on her phone leading up to the killing – including one in December 2021 where Ersoy had sent links to sites “on the topic of obsession with ex-boyfriend”.
Another from August 2021 read: “Questioning where I went, I asked him not to go back to attitude of three months earlier.”
While one in October 2021 told how Ersoy had allegedly got drunk and “threatened” his wife.
Jurors were told Ersoy claimed he had been stabbed by Dr Castelvedere, which caused two shallow wounds to his stomach.
Mr Paxton said there was “no independent evidence” his wife had caused the injuries.
The dad claims he was suffering from an “abnormality of mental functioning that arose from a medical condition, depression” at the time of the stabbing, the court heard.
Ersoy, who is also a lecturer and teaching fellow, denies murder but admits manslaughter.
The trial continues.
East Anglia News ServiceDr Castelvedere had told a pal she was worried, jurors heard[/caption]
East Anglia News ServiceHer body was discovered 24 hours later[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
