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Man smuggles knife into court complex and stabs ex-wife in the neck causing her to die within seconds during a mediation

According to the CCTV footage that has been retrieved, he stabbed his estranged partner, 33-year-old Sarah Marie Thomas in the bone four times and severed a neck artery, which led to her dying within seconds.

PERTH, AUSTRALIA: Perth man Paul Gary Turner has been put on trial for allegedly murdering his wife by stabbing her repeatedly with a knife. The 43-year-old, who learned 'commando' knife skills, fatally stabbed his ex-wife with the weapon he smuggled into the Joondalup Justice Complex where the couple was attending mediation in December 2016, reports the Daily Mail. 

According to the CCTV footage that has been retrieved, he stabbed his estranged partner, 33-year-old Sarah Marie Thomas in the bone four times and severed a neck artery, which led to her dying within seconds. According to the forensic pathologist, Clive Trevor Cooke who took the stand at the Supreme Court, Thomas also suffered a typical defensive wound in the form of a slash across her left index finger.

Just a week prior to the incident, Thomas had gained custody of their two children, and they had met for the mediation of a financial dispute between the duo, wherein Turner had claimed that Thomas owed him money. When she was asked if she would like to make an offer to settle the issue during their meeting in a small room in the building with a registrar, she had allegedly replied no. 

When the registrar went out of the room, Turner, who is a martial artist, took out the knife that he had hidden on him, and went on to attack Thomas repeatedly, claims prosecutor James Mactaggart. A CCTV footage of the court waiting room fidgeting with the hidden weapon was played to the jury showed Turner moments before the alleged murder. Before walking into the room, Turner can be seen repeatedly touching his left pocket, where he had allegedly hidden his knife.

Because of his background in martial arts, he allegedly knows where to inflict the wounds to cause the most damage. Cooke has confirmed that Thomas was stabbed through her left ear, which led to the knife hitting her skull, and damaging the surface of her brain. According to the pathologist, it requires a "fair bit of force."

Cooke who spoke at the court on Friday added that the two stabs to her neck hit her in the spine, while another, which severed her carotid artery, would have caused "torrential, immediate" and fatal amount blood loss. This injury caused her to be unconscious within the next 10 seconds and died a few more seconds later.

Turner has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge. The trial is set to continue for nine days.