A woman who denied violently stabbing a mum to death changed her plea midway through a murder trial.
Hannah Glover, 30, and James Sorgiovanni, 29, were both on trial charged with the murder of West Australian mum Tara Morrison, 38.
Her body was found stuffed inside a child’s cupboard with 40 stab wounds at a Busselton home, about 220km south of Perth, in April 2024.
Ms Glover and Mr Sorgiovanni both pleaded not guilty to the murder.
But on Thursday, Ms Glover changed her plea to guilty – about two weeks after the trial started.
On Wednesday, a prisoner who cannot be named, gave graphic evidence that Ms Glover confided in her that she used multiple knives to violently stab Ms Morrison.
The inmate told the court that Ms Glover told her she saw the 38-year-old woman give drugs to a child, and that she injected Ms Morrison with fantasy telling her co-accused, “It’s time” before killing the woman.
“Hannah told me that Jimmy held Tara’s arms behind her back. And after he held her hands behind her back, that’s when Hannah stabbed her,” the prisoner told the court.
She said Ms Glover told her there was “pfft pfft everywhere” in the house.
“She was making the impersonation and demonstrating things like blood squirting. That’s the noise of the blood going everywhere.”
Mr Sorgiovanni has not changed his not guilty plea and his trial continues.
During the trial, state prosecutor Michael Cvetkoski told the court Ms Glover and Mr Sorgiovanni had been in a relationship for less than two months when Ms Morrison was killed.
He claimed Ms Morrison was repeatedly stabbed in the chest, neck, head, arm and hand.
Mr Cvetkoski said the last person to see Ms Morrison alive claimed he dropped her off at Ms Glover’s home and when he tried to leave after consuming drugs with them the doors were locked.
Mr Cvetkoski told the court one witness who lived next door was woken by a woman screaming in distress for about 30 minutes before it suddenly went silent.
The state also argued a bloody palm print found on the front door of the Ms Glover’s home was made by Ms Morrison who tried to escape the home while she was being attacked by the pair.
“We will be saying the deceased was screaming while she was being attacked,” Mr Cvetkoski said.
“We will say she was screaming in pain. She was screaming as she was distressed while she was, in every sense of the words, fighting for her life.”
“Her attempts, we will say, were futile. She had, in every sense, no hope. It was two against one.”
The court was told police were called to the home to conduct a welfare check and noticed blood on the door and walls, and found Ms Morrison’s body inside a child’s cupboard.
Police allegedly found several blood stained knives inside the home, CCTV ripped down and damaged and burnt blood soaked hair.
The state argued gas and burners were turned on in a bid to burn the house down with Ms Morrison’s body inside.
The pair had fled the home when police conducted a welfare check and were driven to Margaret River, about 50km away, but went their separate ways.
Mr Sorgiovanni was arrested and blamed Ms Glover for the murder claiming he was in asleep and heavily sedated by GHB when Ms Morrison was attacked.
Mr Sorgiovanni’s lawyer Lisa Boston told the court her client did not kill Ms Morrison and that it was Ms Glover alone.
Ms Boston said her client had consumed a powerful anaesthetic and passed out in a bedroom when he woke up to shouting and saw a “horror show.”
“Ms Glover, his partner, a person he thought he knew, had become someone he did not recognise,” she said.
“A frenzied attacker with a knife.”
Ms Glover’s lawyer Anthony Eyres said in his opening remarks that his client accepted she was in the property when Ms Morrison was murdered, but said Mr Sorgiovanni killed her.
“She denies attacking and specifically denies stabbing Tara Morrison or causing any injury whatsoever,” he said.
Mr Sorgiovanni’s trial continues.
Her matter will be heard again on November 5.