A JURY heard a woman accused of strangling a man in Oxford said she doesn’t ‘recall what happened’ as she ‘wasn't there’.
Scarlet Blake, now 26, is on trial at Oxford Crown Court charged with the murder of Jorge Carreno.
She is accused of allegedly strangling the 30-year-old Spanish man at Parsons Pleasure in the early hours of July 25, 2021 before pushing him in the water – which she denies.
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Giving evidence on the stand on Tuesday (February 20), Blake said she was out walking in the early hours of the morning to ‘clear her head’ when she came across Mr Carreno in Radcliffe Square.
She said: “I saw a person who seemed to be sat in the middle of the alleyway which is typical indicative of someone not having the greatest of times and I was concerned.
"I was wondering if he was passed out, asleep, injured, in need of help. He seemed to have been asleep."
Blake said after speaking to Mr Carreno she was going to head home and he ‘seemed to want the company’ so they walked together.
When Mr Carreno allegedly said he wanted to sit down as his boots were hurting his feet, Blake suggested Parsons Pleasure as it’s ‘tranquil’ so the pair went there together.
She said: “We sat by the river, we sat on a concrete block because it saves you from getting muddy and damp from the grass.
"We spoke about things a little bit but at some point I was getting concerned that he didn't seem to want to go home.
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"I wanted to go home and I didn't want to walk him back to my house. It kind of...I kind of felt like it was one of those times where it feels like I'm a video game.
"I spoke to someone for a quest and now they are going to follow me until I find the drunk guy's home.
"I told him when we left that he really should go the other way, the way we just came from and I would carry on going where I live.
"I asked him if he knew where Marston is and he didn't. His home wasn't on the way to Marston or in Marston so I told him to go the other way.
"But I did leave my bottle of vodka with him as I felt like I was slipping into old habits of drinking."
When asked if she hit him on the back of the head with the bottle, Blake said: "I'm pretty sure I didn't do that.
"I'm confident that did not happen."
The trial continues.
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