A pair accused of murdering a man in the Highlands have had some of the charges against them dropped.
Antonia Gunn said Michael Joyce are standing trial for the murder of Michael White, 61, in Kyle of Lochalsh in April 2023.
The pair deny the charge.
They were earlier charged with holding Mr White as a slave for the 22 months before his death and attempting to defeat the ends of justice by making his death look like a suicide.
But the Crown has now withdrawn those charges and the trial judge, Lady Poole, formally acquitted them.
Only murder charges remaining
It means the only remaining accusation is that the pair murdered Mr White.
The trial began last Wednesday and continued today at the High Court in Edinburgh after a weekend break.
Taking to the stand was co-accused Antonia Gunn, who told the court that Joyce had attacked Mr White before his death.
Gunn, 28, said: “The two of them were arguing about Michael Joyce’s sister.”
She said she saw Joyce punch Mr White in the stomach with two separate blows involving “a strong amount of force”.
Gunn told her defence counsel Tony Lenehan KC that she had seen Joyce punch Mr White before.
She heard Mr White making noises as if he was in pain from a bedroom while she was in the living room.
‘This has happened before’
Gunn told the court: “I had no idea how bad this was. This has happened before and he was okay.”
While Gunn said she did not agree to the attack, she was concerned Joyce would hit her if she raised the alarm, she said.
She agreed she had taken a video clip that showed a partially clothed Mr White in a shower but said the assault on him had started before it was filmed.
Gunn then said she had given a police statement about discovering Mr White and immediately calling an ambulance – but she added that that was not true.
Gunn, who was pregnant at the time of the alleged murder, said she formed a relationship with Joyce, who was five years her senior, when she was aged 17.
‘I tolerated assaults because I loved him’
She said she sustained bruising and black eyes during incidents of domestic violence.
Mr Lenehan asked her why she tolerated it and she replied: “I loved him.”
Gunn and Joyce, 33, have denied assaulting and murdering Mr White on April 22 or 23 last year at an address on Plock Road, Kyle of Lochalsh, by repeatedly striking him and inflicting blunt force trauma injuries to his head and body.
The trial on the murder charge continues into its fifth day on Tuesday.