A pensioner accused of trying to kill her husband had “lost all sense of reality” at the time of the incident, a court heard yesterday.
Grace Fullerton, 61, is on trial after “repeatedly” stabbing husband of 29 years Iain Fullerton, 64, at their home in Westhill last year.
Emergency services were called to Brimmond Crescent on the evening of Tuesday June 14 and transported the pair to hospital.
Fullerton denies attempted murder and has lodged a special defence of insanity claiming she was unaware her actions were wrong due to her mental date.
She is on trial at the High Court in Aberdeen.
Yesterday psychiatrist Robert Brogan, who carried out an examination of Fullerton two days after the incident, gave evidence on day four of the trial.
Mr Brogan, who has carried out about 80 similar examinations on people due to appear in court in the last two years, said: “She was extremely distressed and upset.
“She became very tearful and very distressed in particular when describing her actions.”
He described her mental state at the time of the incident.
He said: “She had lost all sense of reality, she was ruminating and fixated on ending her life.”
Defence advocate Lili Prais asked him how many times a special defence of insanity had been put forward from all the cases he had dealt with during his career.
Advocate Depute Owen Mullan later asked him: “In your experience do patients lie and exaggerate?”
He said: “I cannot generalise.”
He was then asked: “Do some patients lie?”
He said: “Some do for primary or secondary reasons.”
The court previously heard from Pauline Larmer, a psychiatrist at Cornhill Hospital in Aberdeen, who examined Fullerton the month after the incident.
She claimed although Fullerton, who now lives on Wallfield Crescent in Aberdeen, was suffering from a mental condition called adjustment disorder she was able to appreciate that her actions were wrong.
The trial, before Lord Ericht, continues.