A woman allegedly said: “the b****** put a packet of cigarettes under my pillow” – after her husband was found dead.
Sandra Bruce was accused of making the remark on the day she is said to have murdered 64 year-old former paramedic Norman Bruce.
The 61 year-old secretary is on trial charged with killing Mr Bruce at their home on the Isle of Skye.
Ambulance technician Andrew Alexander told the High Court in Glasgow how he was called to attend at the couple’s house on February 9 last year.
He said he initially met Bruce who appeared “agitated” and “slightly unsteady on her feet”.
Mr Alexander then added: “She stated that Norman was dead and that there was no need for the defibrillator.
“She took hold of me – she did not let go for a period of time.”
Mr Alexander and a colleague eventually went into the house. Mr Bruce was found, but it was clear he had already died.
Prosecutor Andrew Brown QC asked the witness was Bruce on the telephone while he was there.
Mr Alexander confirmed she was, but he could not say who she called.
But, he told the jury: “She stated ‘the b****** put a packet of cigarettes under my pillow’ or ‘the b****** hid a packet of cigarettes under my pillow’.”
Bruce, now of Kilbarchan, Renfrewshire, denies murder and has lodged a special defence of self defence.
She is alleged to have scratched, kicked, stamped and jumped on her husband.
Prosecutors claim Bruce also inflicted “blunt force injuries” by means unknown to her husband.
As well as the murder, Bruce is accused of assaulting Mr Bruce’s son Andrew at the same property on Skye between 1992 and 1995.
She faces a separate allegation of assaulting her husband between 1991 and 2014.
Bruce – who also uses the names Fraser and Anderson – denies those allegations.
The trial, before Judge Lord Armstrong, continues.