21 year-old Young mother stabbed her boyfriend for going out and not ringing in every two hours then casually lit up a cigarette as he lay on the floor fighting for life

A 'sinister' young mother stabbed and battered her boyfriend because he failed to call her every two hours on a night out, leaving him so badly injured paramedics believed he was dead, a court heard yesterday.
Rhiann Burnie, 21, punched bricklayer Shane McMullen, 23, then knifed him in the shoulder before lighting up a cigarette and mopping up blood as he lay on the floor clinging to life, the jury at Burnley Crown Court was told.

The prosecution claim she flew into a rage about him going to an engagement party and leaving her at home with her two-year-old daughter.

Despite the wound severing a major artery and causing significant blood loss, Mr McMullen survived but has suffered memory loss and has nightmares of being stabbed again.

A jury was told he had been attacked simply because he forgot to ring her 'every couple of hours' as she demanded.
Burnley Crown Court was told the couple had been in a relationship for a year and initially was 'happy and healthy' yet a 'darker more sinister side' of Burnie's character emerged, said Miss Rachel Woods, prosecuting.

Burnie had on two previous occasions turned on him with a knife with Mr McMullen having to wrestle them off her, it is alleged.
She had also smashed doors and furniture during heated arguments and had revealed she had been advised to attend anger management courses.

Miss Woods added: 'She revealed a different side of her character, a volatile side, an aggressive side, an unpredictable side where she would lose her temper and damage the property and furniture, doors, in a fit of rage.

'No sooner would she blow up she would calm down. In flashes of temper the knife would come out and then matters would calm down - Mr McMullen had little realisation what lay ahead.'

Mr McMullen saw the previous threats as empty and never thought she was capable of using a knife. He would often leave the house to let her cool down.

But the stabbing occurred in April after Mr McMullen was invited to the party at Burnley Football Club's Turf Moor ground in Lancashire.

Couple: Shane McMullen with partner Rhiann Burnie, who is said to have puffed on a cigarette while mopping up his blood as he lay on the floor

Miss Woods added: 'It is quite apparent that she was very keen to know exactly what he was up to that evening. She had ran out of credit on her own mobile phone and so she kept his so that they could continue contact throughout the evening.

Accused: Burnie walks from court, which heard Mr McMullen suffered the life threatening injuries because he hadn't called her 'every couple of hours' like she had wanted

'He telephoned her and spoke to her before he went to the party not causing any difficulty at that stage. He made the error of not keeping in contact with the defendant.'


The court heard Mr McMullen arrived at Burnie's home in Burnley after the function and she was said to be 'not best pleased'. She was so annoyed she punched him in the face fracturing his nose and leaving him with a black eye.

She then went to the pub and continued drinking at a friend's house before returning home at around 3am.
On arriving back she taunt Mr McMullen telling him that she had been with another man. He got up and dressed before making an attempt to leave.

But as he did so Burnie took the kitchen knife and attacked him in a 'fit of rage, or jealousy, or control,' added Miss Woods. Mr McMullen staggered into the backyard where he was found in the backyard with a blood soaked shirt. 

Police arrested Burnie but she initially claimed her boyfriend had come home injured, before suggesting there must have been an intruder at the house. 

She also refused 'point blank' to tell officers Mr McMullen's name, instead giving a false, foreign name despite police needing to call a next of kin.
She then claimed she hadn't realised how serious his injuries were and only sought help when she looked out of a back window and saw him turning grey and eyes rolling.

Miss Woods said: 'She claims that she was unaware that he had a serious injury and thought about turning the lights off and going to bed. She told the police she had a cigarette and she mopped up the blood in the kitchen.'

'The defendant did later accept that when she got back she was still annoyed and cross that he had left her alone whilst he was enjoying himself.

'She accepts that she had gone upstairs to the bedroom where he was sleeping and taunted him and tried to get a reaction out of him claiming she had just been with another man. 

'There was a row in which she claims she was pinned down on the bed by him by her wrists, because he was angry and shouted. She accepted he didn't hit or hurt her.'

In a video taped interview Mr McMullen said: 'I went to the engagement do with all my mates and I forgot to ring her. I remember just coming round in hospital. I think my brain shut down.'

Relationship: The couple had been happy but the court heard of Burnie's 'sinister' side and she had on two previous occasions turned on him with a knife

 

He said of the relationship: 'It was good up until eight months. She just started going loopy like screaming and shouting all the time and throwing stuff about in the house, breaking stuff then I would have to fix it.

Victim: Shane McMullen told the court: 'She just started going loopy like screaming and shouting all the time and throwing stuff about in the house'

'We'd argue when rough, after we'd been out, then it started happening when we were out and then it was getting worse and worse, we'd argue about little things.

'She would throw anything, like a plate, I thought 'what a nutcase' but she always calmed down. We would be arguing and she would go to hit me, she thought I had been looking at her mates if we were out. If I couldn't calm her down I used to go for a walk.

'She picked up a knife before but I never felt threatened. I thought she might have slashed me, I never took much notice because I never felt threatened.
'She got a knife and started waving it around, I said 'what are you doing', she started pointing it about. I was a bit paranoid. This is when it was getting ropey and I was thinking 'this isn't going to work'.'

He said he had repaired the bedroom door four times after she broke it by kicking and pushing it through.

He said: 'Every time we had an argument she would do that so I would have to repair in. I just think she needs to sort her anger problems out. She used to say people told her to go for anger management, she never really went into it.'
'I have the odd nightmare about being stabbed, not by her, by other people, someone comes and sits on me and stabs me in the chest. I've had it more than once, it makes me wake up. I just try and block it out.'

Burnie denies wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm but admits the lesser charged of unlawful wounding.
The trial continues.