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Perth man masked murder as suicide, court told

A Perth man is on trial in the Supreme Court accused of murdering his partner and then claiming it was suicide.

Robert Jeffrey Anderson is alleged to have shot Phaea Lightfoot in the face at their Wanneroo home in August 2012.

The court was told Anderson then rang 000 and claimed Lightfoot had shot herself.

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However, prosecutor Nick Cogan said that claim was “a lie” and the state was going to call “expert” and “scientific” evidence that Lightfoot did not commit suicide.

Mr Cogan said Anderson and Lightfoot had been in a relationship for about nine years which he said may have started after they met at a swingers club.

He said in the early stages it was what he called “a servant, slave relationship”.

“He did what she told him,” Mr Cogan said.

However, he said the relationship started to deteriorate in about 2006.

Mr Cogan said the evidence suggests Lightfoot “was not an easy person to live with” because she had “anger management problems” and was known “to smash things”.

“She had a drug habit and was known to consume cannabis regularly. In addition she consumed methylamphetamine,” he said.

Mr Cogan also described Lightfoot as “a highly sexualised female, who wanted sex regularly and when she didn’t get sex from Mr Anderson it made her angry”.

“That was one of the contentions that appeared to affect their relationship,” he said.

However, Mr Cogan told the jury that while it may find Lightfoot’s attitude towards Anderson was “reprehensible” it did not mean he needed to shoot her.

“It was not a necessary response,” he said.

Anderson has pleaded not guilty.

The trial is expected to run for a week.

-ABC

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