Woman who stabbed boyfriend four times 'only wanted to frighten him'

A Drogheda woman accused of stabbing her boyfriend to death in a drunken row on New Year's Eve, has told the Central Criminal Court that she thought "he was going to kill me".

Paula Farrell, with an address at Rathmullen Park, Drogheda, Co Louth denies murdering Wayne McQuillan at her home on January 1, 2014.

The 42-year-old took to the stand for a second day - where she told the Court that she drank 11 or 12 cans on December 31 before an argument erupted with McQuillan, or "Quilly", as she referred to him, in the early hours of New Year's Day.

In earlier testimony, the Court heard that Ms Farrell had begun drinking at 14 years of age, after being sexually abused as a child and had drank daily since.

That night, the verbal row escalated, she said, when the 30-year-old tried to give her a kiss. She claims that when she turned away, he became violent and sexually assaulted her.

Ms Farrell told the jury that she tried to fight him off.

"I thought he was going to kill me," she testified. "I was scared, I was frightened."

When Ms Farrell freed herself, she walked to the sink and picked up a knife and stabbed McQuillan four times.

She sobbed as she told the jury she only wanted to "frighten him".