A builder whose wife was taking steps to divorce him slit her throat and did the same to her son, a court heard.
Maria Nugara said in a message to a friend the day before she died that she was “a bit scared” and “he’s saying I have to stay with him or things are going to get messy”, prosecutor Simon Spence KC said.
Calogero Ricotta, 64, denies the murders of his 54-year-old wife Maria Nugara, referred to in charges as Maria Ricotta, and her 29-year-old son Giuseppe Morreale, also known as Joe.
Mr Spence told jurors at Chelmsford Crown Court that the pair were killed at the family home in the village of Ugley in Essex, near Bishop’s Stortford, on May 28 last year.
“The background to this tragic and violent incident was an increasingly unhappy marriage between the defendant and his wife, leading her to take steps to obtain a divorce from him and achieve some financial independence,” said Mr Spence, opening the prosecution case.
The barrister said these were “things we say the defendant didn’t want to happen and which he tried to prevent”.
He said that Ricotta, originally from Sicily in Italy, attacked his wife after she was captured on CCTV arriving back at the house at 9.47pm.
“An argument between him and Maria started almost immediately,” he said.
Mr Spence said that a youth who was present in the house heard screaming and saw Maria Nugara in the living room “pinned against the sofa and (Ricotta) standing over her stabbing”.
The youth said that Joe Morreale was stabbed when he came to help and that there was “blood everywhere”.
“Both Maria and Giuseppe, known as Joe, were stabbed several times with a kitchen knife and both of them had their throats cut in a manner we suggest were attacks that caused very similar injuries to both victims,” said Mr Spence.
The youth asked Ricotta in the presence of police – who arrived at the scene after a 999 call – what he had been doing and “he (Ricotta) said they were all planning to kill him”, Mr Spence said.
The barrister said Ricotta was a builder who, together with Maria Nugara, also “owned a number of properties that were rented out”.
He said that police had been called to the house in April last year, the month before the incident, following an argument between Ricotta and his wife.
A woman, who was present in the house on May 28, said that Maria Nugara “had been to see the solicitor about being divorced”.
“The prosecution say increasing tension and unhappiness between the defendant and his wife are what led to the horrific events of May 28,” Mr Spence said.
He said that in a Whatsapp message to a friend on May 27, Maria Nugara said “I’m a bit scared” and that “he’s saying I have to stay with him or things are going to get messy”.
Mr Spence said the message continued: “He wants me to agree his terms or else.”
The barrister said that Ricotta, in a prepared statement to police, had said that he was “in the living room with Maria, they were arguing, she called out to Giuseppe who stormed in with a knife”.
Ricotta also denies a charge of actual bodily harm in respect of the youth who was in the house.
The trial continues.
