Murdered for sake of garlic bread: young mother’s 38 stab wounds

A YOUNG mother was killed in a frenzied knife attack by her boyfriend after she complained that he had not made garlic bread for tea, a court heard yesterday.

Alami Gotip, 22, died from 38 wounds to her neck and body, while her two children slept upstairs in the family home in Livingston, West Lothian.

Jamie Ellis, 18, handed himself in to the police after the attack and told officers: “It’s not that I am a horrible person but s*** happens.” He said he had made a meal and “got everything nice” but Ms Gotip had grumbled that there was no garlic bread and he “lost it”.

Ellis, of Morrison Way, Knightsridge, Livingston, admitted murdering Ms Gotip on 25 May. He will be sentenced next month. He has previous convictions for violent offences, and, aged 14, was detained for 22 months for an assault which left the victim scarred for life.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard Ms Gotip and Ellis had been in a relationship for some months, after Ms Gotip had split from Neil Henderson, the father of her two daughters, Shola, four, and one-year-old Jasmin. She and Mr Henderson worked together in an Inland Revenue office and they remained on good terms. He helped put the children to bed each evening.

The advocate-depute, Susanne Tanner, said Mr Henderson had never met Ellis, but the accused was jealous of Ms Gotip’s continued relationship with her former partner.

On the evening of the murder, the girls were asleep by the time Ellis arrived at the house in Nigel Rise, Dedridge, Livingston. During the day, he had taken Valium and cannabis. Neighbours heard banging, followed by silence.

Sobbing Ellis arrived at a relative’s home nearby and said: “I’ve stabbed her…about 40 times. I lost it.” A short time later, he told a friend: “She’s finally cracked me…she pushed me to it.”

Ellis confessed to his mother and she contacted the emergency services. He went with his father to the police, after telling him that he and Ms Gotip had been having an argument over garlic bread.

Officers arrived at the house and saw a body on the couch.

“Because there were children’s toys in the house, officers checked upstairs and found the children asleep in their bedrooms,” said Mrs Tanner.

Ellis stated at the police station: “I’ll take it on the chin. It shouldn’t have happened. I just snapped. I just got sick of it.”

Asked why he had stabbed Ms Gotip, he said she had been moaning at him because he had not made garlic bread for tea. He said he had got everything nice and she had called him a “useless piece of s***” and said he could not do anything right.

Pathologists found Ms Gotip had sustained 38 knife wounds, many to the neck which damaged jugular veins, causing rapid and profuse bleeding. She also showed signs she had tried to defend herself from the attack.

Mrs Tanner added: “Two very young children have been left without their mother… Jasmin without any memory of her. Mr Henderson now has sole care of his children.”

Ms Gotip had helped look after her mother, Karen McKenna, who had mental health problems. Her mother had said Ms Gotip loved life and was bubbly and outgoing. She was very caring and supportive, especially with the family.

She had added: “Alami was my best pal, like a sister to me. She’s a loss that can never be replaced.”