Six-year old child told neighbour ‘Daddy stabbed himself’, court hears

Jurors in a murder trial yesterday heard how the defendant’s terrified six-year old daughter repeatedly told an off-duty police officer: “Daddy stabbed himself”.

This was on the second day of a Supreme Court trial where Real Lishman, 43, faces one count of murder.

His wife Carolina Elizabeth Lishman, 32, died following a violent incident in the couple’s home in Apricot Court in Sir William Jackson Grove, also known as Gib V, in November 2017.

He denies the charge.

Yesterday Mr Lishman’s neighbour PC Catherine Rooke told the court that the child was brought to her front door by neighbours.

The girl was covered in blood and “crying hysterically”, Ms Rooke said.

She added: “She continuously repeated what she saw.”

“Mummy stabbed Daddy, Daddy stabbed Mummy.”

“Both of them are on the floor playing dead.”

Ms Rooke told the court the defendant’s daughter also repeated: “Daddy stabbed himself.”

She added that the girl was “clinging on to her” and she was “scared”.

Ms Rooke called for help after she went to Mr Lishman’s apartment and saw the lights were off and he was lying face-down on the floor.

While seeing to the child in her home, Ms Rooke noticed she was limping and saw a cut on the child’s thigh.

When she asked the daughter what had happened, the child told Ms Rooke her father had told her to stab herself, the court heard.

The defendant’s lawyer, Christopher Finch, said this was a “modern invention” and a “horrible allegation” by Ms Rooke.

“This is something you added on to make him look like a monster in this court,” Mr Finch added.

When asked whether “Mummy stabbed Daddy” was a recurring theme in what the child said, Ms Rooke told Mr Finch she was simply recounting what the child had said at the time.

She agreed with Christian Rocca, the Director for Public Prosecutions, when he asked: “Is it not a recurring theme here that ‘Daddy stabbed himself’?”

Ms Rooke, who has worked as a police officer for almost 10 years, said she never heard any violent behaviour or shouting from the couple’s home.

Crime Scene Manager Detective Sergeant Adam Bautista played a 3D animation of the crime scene in court and said there were no signs of a disturbance in the apartment.

Jurors also heard evidence from Sergeant Stewart Finegan who was called to the incident together with the first responders.

He approached Mr Lishman and noticed “a cluster of puncture wounds” to the left side of the defendant’s chest.

Mr Finegan told the court he asked Mr Lishman what had happened and he replied: “She went for me with a knife and stabbed me in the heart.”

“I took the knife off her and I defended myself.”

Mr Lishman sustained serious injuries during the incident and was taken to St Bernard’s hospital that night where he underwent emergency life-saving surgery.

The Crown’s case is that Mrs Lishman, who had left her husband and moved in with her parents, was stabbed 12 times including a fatal wound through her heart.

The defence case is that Mr Lishman was acting out of self-defence after he was stabbed first.

Police officers responding to the scene found Mrs Lishman on the kitchen floor in a foetal position holding a knife in her right hand.

Paramedics and officers tried to revive her but she died later in hospital.

The jury will today hear evidence from a UK-based forensic scientist.

Mr Rocca is assisted by Carl Ramagge, while Leigh Debono appears alongside Mr Finch for the defence.