A man has gone on trial accused of choking and stabbing his girlfriend to death.
Keith Rizzo is accused of killing care worker Neomi Smith at her flat in Brechin on June 9 last year.
It is alleged he choked the 23-year-old Aberdonian and repeatedly struck her on the head and body with knives.
Rizzo is further accused of assaulting three former partners and threatening another on various occasions between December 2014 and May last year.
The 23-year-old denies the charges, and yesterday went on trial at the High Court in Glasgow.
Mary Saville, who was in an on-off relationship with Rizzo between 2014 and 2017, told the jury he attacked her three times.
Advocate depute Duncan McPhie, prosecuting, asked her to explain what happened.
The 23-year-old support worker, who lives in Aberdeen, said: “The first occurred while we were living together at his mum’s flat on Church Street in Brechin in 2014. We had an argument at around midday in his bedroom and I was pushed in the chest by him into a sliding glass mirror, which smashed.”
Miss Saville said Rizzo attacked her again at her mother’s flat in Montrose Street, Brechin in 2015 after they had been drinking.
She said he compressed her neck, and when she fell to the floor, he kicked her.
In the third incident at her flat in Aberdeen in 2016, Miss Saville said Rizzo “became violent” after she discovered a message on his phone from a female.
She said Rizzo grabbed her before she slipped, hitting her head against a lock.
Miss Saville then fled from the flat and a neighbour called the police. She said that their relationship ended afterwards.
Another former partner Murron Wallace, said Rizzo was regularly verbally abusive and called her “every name you could ever think of”.
The 19-year-old told the court: “He was very nasty and manipulative.
“He tried to belittle me and make me feel like I was nothing.
“I can’t remember how many times but more than once. It was very intimidating.
“He sent me horrible messages after I ended the relationship.
“He followed me twice. I was never in danger but I felt unsafe.”
Rizzo, represented by defence advocate Donald Findlay QC, also denies an accusation he assaulted Miss Smith to her injury and danger of life between May 5 and June 8 2019.
The trial, before judge Lady Rae, will continue next week.
