William Kelly denies dousing Catherine Kelly in petrol and setting fire to her at her Kilmaurs Road home on June 22 this year.
“He went down and he set fire at the bottom of her legs. She just went up like an inferno. I’ve never seen anything like it. In the blink of an eye she was on fire.”
Ms Banks, who was in a relationship with Kelly for two years, was giving evidence at his trial.
The three had earlier that evening attended a 21st birthday celebration for one of Ms. Banks’ sons, the court was informed.
After taking a taxi home from the party, Catherine fell twice: first outside the venue and once outside her house on Kilmaurs Road.
Kelly allegedly told Ms. Banks that his mother made him seem bad during the party.
“He threw Cathy onto an armchair and just took off,” she remarked. Shouting and roaring that she was a shame. He struck her on the side of the head and kicked her in the legs.
Kelly, according to Ms. Banks, then threw his mother face down on the ground and attacked her once more while yelling, “Die, you’ve ruined my life, I hate you, I can’t”
get a life for you.’
She added: “It was horrible.”
The court heard that Ms Banks left Kelly alone with his mother while she went to the toilet. She told the jury that when she came back he was pouring liquid over his mother’s body and he then set it alight. Ms Banks added: “He was standing at his mother’s legs with his head in his hands saying, ‘oh, my God.’
“I returned to the living room from the kitchen after getting a glass of water. Everything was ablaze, including the curtains.
William remained in that position. His mother was engulfed in flames as he attempted to drag her out by the legs.
Even though they had “never lived together” since they first became romantically involved in 2014, Ms. Banks would frequently visit him and his mother at their Kilmaurs Road residence.
She had previously described to the court how Kelly would frequently kick and hit his ailing mother.
“I loved Cathy,” she testified in court. She was simply a beautiful person,” she said, describing how she frequently witnessed Kelly abusing his mother, getting upset when she drank, and calling her “an old alkie.”
Leave a Reply