Stonebridge man admits killing ex-partner in her Cricklewood home

Ezekial Foster pleads guilty to the manslaughter of Sashana Roberts but denies murder

A jilted boyfriend has admitted killing his ex-partner by stabbing her with a kitchen knife after letting himself into her Cricklewood Home.

The Old Bailey heard Ezekiel Foster stabbed 24-year-old Sashana Roberts at least 11 times with a kitchen knife before leaving her for dead in her flat on Ivy Road, on September 12 last year.

Jurors were told the young mother’s body was found dumped in a bath with her two terrified daughters, aged just three and 11 months, cowering nearby.

Foster, 43, of Twybridge Way, Stonebridge, admits carrying out the savage killing but denies murder.

The former deacon of the Harlesden Pentecostal Church claims he was suffering from a mental illness which affected his ability to control his actions.

Jamaican-born Foster is accused of murdering Ms Roberts, who he allegedly beat and repeatedly threatened to kill throughout their five-year relationship, after she refused to see him.

Days before he killed Ms Roberts, he allegedly ranted to a friend that she had the name of another man tattooed on the back of her hand, and later set her status on BlackBerry messenger as ‘I love you’.

Duncan Atkinson, prosecuting, said Foster had been an ‘aggressively controlling’ partner since he began the relationship with his victim in 2005.

Jurors heard Ms Roberts, also from Jamaica, had reported Foster, known as ‘Glen’, to the police on several occasions but retracted the complaints every time.

Mr Atkinson said: “When she made a voluntary choice to escape his abusive control for good, he reacted violently.

“He is possessive and controlling of those with whom he is in a relationship - when they cross him, or seek to leave him, he reacts with violence.”

Fingerprints from the handle of a blade, found hidden behind a cabinet in the bedroom, were shown to be Foster’s, along with a small amount of blood in the flat.

Describing the scene, Mr Atkinson said: “She had been stabbed to her head, face, trunk, back, legs and arms.

“Wounds had penetrated both lungs, her liver, and spleen.

“Some of the stab wounds had incised ribs - demonstrating that they had been inflicted with severe force.

“The distribution of the blood, and the patterns it had made, showed that Shashana Roberts had received multiple impacts in various locations within her small flat.’

Following her death, Foster allegedly burst into tears as he rung up his daughter, saying: “I’ve done the biggest thing, the biggest mistake of my life - that Shana’s dead.’

“I killed her.”

He was arrested three days later after detectives tracked him down to a flat in southeast London.

Foster denies murder but admits manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

The trial continues.