THE FIRST witness to go to the scene of an alleged murder told jurors the accused man claimed his dead wife was ‘sleeping’.

Fatos Xheta is currently on trial at Oxford Crown Court accused of murdering his wife at the house they shared at Lytton Road, Oxford on June 17 this year.

It is alleged that the 46-year-old stabbed Safie Xheta, 35, multiple times in the neck in an attack motivated by ‘sexual jealousy.’

As his trial continued today his second cousin Diana Dedia - who was the first to go to the house at about 5am that day - told jurors what she saw.

READ ALSO: Slain wife seen with black eye at work months before killing, jury told.

She said it was a text message sent to her by Fatos at 3.48am which prompted her to go the home.

While there, she said, she found the front door open but the upstairs bedroom was locked.

Jurors were told that Fatos had sent her further messages when she arrived telling her that the door would be open and one which read simply 'quick.'

She told the court that after knocking on the bedroom door upstairs she called to Fatos and asked where Safie was.

Fatos told her she was at work, the jury heard, before later saying she was ‘sleeping.’

When she asked him to open the door, she said, Fatos told her he had ‘too many holes in my body’ like a ‘colander.’

She described feeling ‘panicked’ and after calling a friend she dialled 999 before going back outside while officers arrived.

READ ALSO: Man slit wife's neck in murder-suicide bid out of jealousy, court hears.

The court heard police came quickly to the scene and earlier in the case jurors were shown body worn footage detailing the discovery of Safie lying dead on the bed and Fatos alongside her with his own injuries.

Mrs Dedia was also asked today how she thought Fatos and Safie seemed together to which she answered: “[They got on] very well, very happy.

"Every time I saw them and had a coffee with them or when they came over they were a happy couple.

“That’s why it was a shock to us.

"I don’t know if they had any problem, they seemed a happy couple, no problems at all.”

Jurors were also told yesterday about a meeting which Fatos had with another man the night before the alleged killing.

That brief meeting, the court heard, took place at Costa near the Aldi supermarket in Cowley.

The meeting, the jury were told, involved Fatos requesting a change to his shift pattern where he worked at the BMW plant for the following three days.

The reason for that request - made the night before the alleged murder - was described in court as because of 'a few personal issues.'

Fatos denies murder while prosecutors say he killed his wife with a kitchen knife before turning the blade on himself.

The trial continues.