Sheffield murder trial: '˜Kids were begging dad to stop'

Rory Hemmings, aged 29, dad to girls aged four and seven, died after he was stabbed in the chest after a fight inside his ex-partner Kirsty Allen’s home on Errington Crescent, Arbourthorne.

Ms Allen’s new partner, Steven Ray, 36, of Thornbrough Road, Heeley, denies his murder after an altercation inside the house.

It is alleged that Ray stabbed Mr Hemmings with a steak knife he had grabbed from the kitchen draining rack during an early morning fight on November 15, after Mr Hemmings had barged in.

The court had previously heard the deceased was unhappy his relationship with Ms Allen had ended and alleged she had cheated on him in the past.

Ms Allen, who was originally arrested as part of the murder probe, took to the stand at Sheffield Crown Court as a key witness.

She told the jury: “I don’t know what would’ve happened if Steven wasn’t there. He could’ve killed us.”

She had told police that at one point during the fight between Ray and Mr Hemmings, she ‘cowered in a corner’ of the kitchen, clutching her sobbing young children.

The jury heard Ray had come downstairs to ask Mr Hemmings to leave in a ‘calm’ manner before the fight.

Ms Allen said: “The kids were screaming and crying, I was crying. He kept calling me a ‘whore’ and ‘nothing but a slag’. I was just so overwhelmed with fear. I felt sick, I had the shakes and I couldn’t stop.

“The kids were begging him to stop, they were saying, ‘Please Daddy, stop’.

“I could tell in his face he was full of anger; his eyes were different. It’s the worst I’ve seen him.”

Ms Allen told the court she saw Mr Hemmings ‘go for a knife’ on the draining board but ‘didn’t see’ what happened next.

Shaun Smith, for Ray, read out parts of her police interview. Ms Allen told the officers that prior to the death, Mr Hemmings had been violent to her in the past. Ms Allen said that during their 11-year relationship, Mr Hemmings had previously held a knife to her throat, slapped and kicked her.

She told the police in her interview: “He’s hit me in front of the kids before. He got locked up for it.

“It could happen two or three times a week. I reported it to the police when he was really bad. I would have to calm him down.”

The trial continues.