Law Grad Murder Trial: "I Was In Fear Of My Belly And The Foetus Inside"

Loved Up: Sam Mayo & Blaze Wallace

A law graduate, who plunged a kitchen knife into the heart of her unborn daughter’s father, told a murder trial: “I was in fear of my belly and the foetus inside,” when threatened with a sharpened wooden chopstick.

Blaze Lily Wallace, 28, who has ambitions to become a human rights lawyer, claims boyfriend Samuel Mayo, 34, produced the improvised home-made weapon during a row in the street on a sweltering night last summer.

Bare chested Mayo suffered a fatal 4cm wound in Lower Richmond Road, Mortlake on July 18, last year and bled to death at around 9.45pm as he begged motorists and passers-by to call an ambulance.

Wallace graduated from St. Mary’s University, Twickenham with a law degree in 2017 and at the time of her arrest was studying her Masters in Human Rights & Legal Practice at the University of Roehampton.

She gave birth on March 30 after being transferred in custody to St. George’s Hospital and has pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Mayo and possessing an offensive weapon, namely a kitchen knife.

Both were under the influence of heroin, cocaine and cannabis that evening and had rowed at Wallace’s one-bedroom housing association flat in nearby Mullins Path.

“I said: ‘Get the f*** out of my house,’ and he said: ‘You’re nasty,’ or something and then walked off,” she told the Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court jury.

She followed him so they could “score” drugs together, claimed Wallace, admitting she grabbed the kitchen knife, believing it was one of many weapons Mayo hid all over her home.

“There was a big clean knife on the side and it freaked me out. The logical thing was to keep the knife on me out of harms way and I did not think to throw it in the bin,” she told the court.

“I saw him in the distance and tried to apologise to him for not letting him have a bath and went to say I was freaked out by his weapon-hiding and he pulled out a sharpened chopstick and said: ‘That’s what time it is.’

“It was wooden, but bladed, like a home-made shank, like an ice pick and he used it like an inconspicuous weapon.

“He said: ‘Are you sure you haven’t cheated on me?’ and he has got the chopstick out between his fingers.

“He put his right hand on my stomach and referring to the baby said: ’No, seriously,’ and I said: ‘Sam. get the f*** off’, because he punched me in the stomach the week previously.

“He started moving his hand up until the chopstick was by my neck and said: ‘C’mon. Say pussy one more time.’

“I’ve frozen up and tried to back away from him and he has gone to grab me where the knife was in my pocket and I pulled the knife out of my pocket backwards and he has pulled the chopstick backwards off my neck.

“I put the knife out as a deterrent to get back and he has lunged forward and I did not get a chance to pull the knife back.

“He has got a mad look on his face and I have felt the knife go in quite hard.

“I said: ‘What’s wrong with you?’ and could see the slit in his chest and a tiny bit of blood on the knife and he started shouting: ‘Blaze, Blaze.’

“It was horrible. I did not mean any impact, I meant to gesture for him to get back,” Wallace told the jury.

“I was in fear of my belly and the foetus inside from either a punch or a stab. If I hadn’t had the knife on me I’d have to defend myself with my hands.

“I did not want to cause any harm. I wanted to deter him from attacking me by holding the knife out.”

Wallace returned the short distance home and did not assist Mayo. “He was shouting at members of the public to call an ambulance and I had a knife on me and I panicked. I did not know he was going to die.”

No wooden chopstick was found in the area during the subsequent police investigation.

She told the jury her three-month relationship with Mayo had been a violent one and the court heard the deceased had an ABH conviction after repeatedly punching an ex-girlfriend.

“He was really argumentative and accused me of stealing his drugs and was really paranoid,” she explained, referring to a previous row. “He was quite aggressive and kicked my television over and was screaming in my face.”

Despite his aggression Wallace insisted she was in love with Mayo. “He was quite charismatic, he was funny and when he wasn’t doing crack he was nicer.

“He kept smashing the house up, mirrors, glasses, plates it was just a mess,” added Wallace, telling the trial Mayo hospitalised her just four days before the fatal stabbing.

“He shouted: ‘You ungrateful b****,’ and threw my phone at the back of my head and grabbed me from behind and tried to wrestle me to the ground, trying to smash my face off a Dyson hoover and then smashed me into a mirror.

“When the mirror smashed my head a shard sliced across my hand and he said: ‘Call your own f***ing ambulance’.

“By this time I wanted to break-up with him because he was scaring me.”

The jury were shown a photo of the cut across Wallace’s hand she says was caused by Mayo.

However, the prosecution say CCTV footage shows she deliberately followed Mayo while armed with the knife and with intent to inflict serious harm on him.

“The defendant had clearly caught up with her intended victim and they disappear off camera to the left of the screen,” said Jane Bickerstaff KC.

“The incident is not captured on CCTV footage, but in just under thirty seconds Mayo appears back on screen and he is now fatally injured.

“He can be seen to run into the road and back onto the pavement on the other side of the road, where he collapsed and died.”

“It is the Crown’s case that the defendant had a large kitchen knife concealed at her right side. She took it out and stabbed Mr Mayo once, straight into his heart.

“We say this was intentional and with no lawful reason and the defendant’s intention at the time was to kill her boyfriend, or at the very least to cause him really serious harm.”

Eight stone Mayo bled to death at the scene and when police arrived at 9.57pm they immediately recognised him as a local drug user, who regularly begged outside Tesco’s and Mortlake train station.

He was taken to Kingston Hospital and pronounced dead at 10.33pm.

Locals heard some of his final words as he shouted: “Please Blaze. I love you, please Blaze.” 

Police officers arrived at Wallace’s home at 1.00am, but she failed to give them the same explanation.

“My dad told me not to say anything and I had no solicitor,” she told the jury. “I did not want to spend the night in a cell, it was overwhelming.”

Trial continues………..