A WOMAN who says she killed her partner in self-defence told a murder trial that the war veteran was violent to her when drunk.

Dainius Dobrovolskis, 41, was found by paramedics dead on the living room floor of the house he shared with Baiba Andersone in Stephenson Street, Great Horton, Bradford, on September 5 last year.

She denies murder and an alternative charge of manslaughter.

Giving evidence yesterday, Andersone said Mr Dobrovolskis began drinking heavily as he struggled to cope with memories of serving in Afghanistan.

Speaking through a Latvian interpreter, Andersone said Mr Dobrovolskis had been badly affected by his time in the military.

“He talked about it,” said Andersone, 35. “He was very upset. He lost close friends in Afghanistan. It affected him really bad.”

Andersone said she met Mr Dobrovolskis in 2013 through a mutual friend and “fell in love within a week” and started living together. When they first met, Andersone said Mr Dobrovolskis would only drink at weekends and not to excess.

But as time went on he would drink more because of Afghanistan, said Andersone.

“When sober he was a good man, kind, nice to other people,” said Andersone.

Her barrister Andrew Hall asked her how Mr Dobrovolskis’ attitude towards her “changed as the years went by and he drank more”.

She replied: “It was bad. He was beating me up. It only happened when he was drinking.”

The court heard that Mr Dobrovolskis would beat Andersone up “two or three times a month” in the year before he died, including punching her in the face. During rows, Andersone said she would throw things at Mr Dobrovolskis, including a “potato and a slipper”.

On the weekend before he died, Andersone said Mr Dobrovolskis drank heavily throughout Saturday and Sunday, consuming vodka and beer.

On the Sunday, Andersone said Mr Dobrovolskis “hit me in my face a few times” and tried to strangle her. She is accused of causing his death the following day with a blow to the head from a meat tenderiser.

The trial continues.