Rodney Stuart Fallowfield. Photo / Luisa Girao
A man who strangled his wife made no attempt to resuscitate her, although a woman called him shortly after the strangulation.
Instead, Rodney Fallowfield picked up his wife’s limp body, put her in bed, put her in and cuddled her for about half an hour and told her she was sorry, the Invercargill High Court jury heard yesterday.
Fallowfield, unemployed from Balclutha, appeared on the third day of the trial before Judge Jan-Marie Doogue, where he is defending a murder charge of Shirley Reedy at the Explorer Motel in Te Anau on May 15, 2020.
Although the 53-year-old admits strangling her, his defense is that he didn’t mean to.
Yesterday, the woman given the name suppression said that Fallowfield and Reedy had stopped at their home in Tuatapere for lunch on the day Reedy died on their way to Te Anau.
At the time, the couple seemed happy, she said.
“You were excited to spend the night in a motel.”
At 4:53 p.m. that day, the woman received a call from Fallowfield in Te Anau telling her that Reedy was dead.
“He was crying and sounding pretty hectic and upset.”
She asked him to do Reedy CPR.
“He said, ‘It’s too late, she’s gone,'” said the woman.
Fallowfield then told her he would drive back to her home in Tuatapere and throw himself up.
Attorney General Sarah McKenzie asked the woman what she noticed about Fallowfield’s appearance when he arrived at her home.
“He had blood on his fingers and blood on his face, which looked like a bite mark, but it wasn’t.”
In a police interview conducted by Detective Sergeant Dave Kennelly early May 16 at Invercargill Police Station, Fallowfield said the couple’s night was in Te Anau to celebrate how well they have got along lately.
On their return from a walk, things started to get “shaky,” Fallowfield said.
He got angry when Reedy said she was accusing him of rape again.
He said he was triggered when she repeated the word rape.
“I just wanted her to be quiet. I don’t like the bad word rape. I just wanted her to be quiet.”
After strangling her, he didn’t look for signs of life, but put her to bed, he said.
“How long after did you leave the motel?” Asked Kennelly.
“About 20 minutes to half an hour,” replied Fallowfield.
“What did you do during that time?”
“I cuddled her,” Fallowfield had said.
He said scratches and abrasions on his hands were likely from Reedy.
He told Kennelly that Reedy was a schizophrenic who had previously made a false claim that he raped her and a non-association warrant was issued as a result. However, the couple had continued to see each other, Reedy lived mainly in his house.
The process continues today.
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