A neighbour of an Elgin mum who was allegedly found murdered in her own home heard shouts of “no, no, no” coming from the property, a court heard today.
Owen Grant is alleged to have assaulted and murdered Lucretia Donaghy, known as Kiesha, on November 15 2023 by repeatedly striking her on the head and body with the object. She died after sustaining blunt force head injuries.
Grant, 43, denies murdering the 32-year-old mum-of-two and is standing trial at the High Court in Edinburgh.
Giving evidence on the first full day of the trial, upstairs neighbour Jacqueline Grant, 59, said she heard sounds of arguing coming from the flat below on November 15 in 2023.
Ms Grant said she was at home in the Anderson Drive property and a friend was visiting her.
She said: “We heard a lot of arguing and shouting downstairs.”
She also heard the sound of a thud and added: “I knew it was somebody falling on the floor because it had happened before.”
She said the noise was coming from Kiesha’s flat and told the court: “I think there was a time she was shouting ‘no’, ‘no’, ‘no’.”
Ms Grant said her neighbour’s dog was barking and growling and added: “Obviously there was somebody there that he didn’t like.”
“The argument was going on for a while. It seemed like a while, it probably wasn’t,” she said.
She said she heard Kiesha’s voice but could not hear what was being said. She told the court: “I just got the ‘no, no, no'”.
She said she could not say what the argument was about.
She later heard the dog pining and contacted a friend of Kiesha’s, who had a key for the downstairs flat, before the dead woman was discovered.
Detective Sergeant Lynsey McLean said that when she went to the deceased woman’s flat, its front door was undamaged with no sign of forced entry to the property.
She was shown photographs taken at the address and said that in one there was a passport. She said she looked at the passport and it was in the name of an “Owen Grant”.
She also saw a box on a countertop in the kitchen with a label on it with the same name.
The officer said the deceased was lying face down in a bedroom with her knees up towards her chest.
The trial before judge Lord Scott continues.