Christopher Trybus is accused of causing his wife’s death by subjecting her to “extensive” acts of manipulative behaviour and sexual violence
A woman allegedly driven to kill herself by her husband told an old school friend he had strangled her with a belt as he raped her.
Carina Silva told the court Tarryn Baird was “hysteric” as she recalled the alleged sex attack by Christopher Trybus.
Trybus, 43, is accused of causing his wife’s death by subjecting her to “extensive” acts of manipulative behaviour and sexual violence. Baird, 34, hanged herself at the couple’s home in Swindon, Wilts.
Giving evidence to the jury, Carina Silva said Trybus had hit Baird up to 25 times during their “hostile” relationship, and said his abuse had left her friend a “hollow shell.”
Silva met Baird playing hockey at school in South Africa. They remained friends up until Baird took her own life on November 28, 2017.
Describing her pal’s relationship with Trybus, she told Winchester Crown Court: “It was hostile, she enjoyed spending time with him. But most of the time it was hostile and she was scared of him. Every time we spoke she would tell me more. She appeared frightened.
“She quite frequently told me that he was abusing her, hitting her, but then she would sometimes retract it so I didn’t really know how to deal with the situation. She said he hit her, she said there was a lot of swearing.”
She said Baird opened up to her about the alleged rape after they met up to celebrate Silva’s engagement at London’s Paddington train station. She said Baird was at first “bubbly” but her mood quickly changed.
“She described two occasions, one of the times Chris came home and he was angry and they had an argument,” Silva said. “He took her to the spare bedroom and raped her. She said he strangled her. She mentioned a belt. She told me the pain she was in afterwards. She said how sore her body was and she couldn’t move her neck because she said to me she was strangled.”
Silva tried to persuade Baird to come home with her that night, but she refused. Silva told her to keep a diary of the abuse so there would be “evidence if she needed it.”
Describing the impact of the abuse on her friend, Silva said: “She was not my friend any more. She was a hollow shell. We used to laugh for hours, but she just became hollow.”
The court also heard how Baird suffered from PTSD after witnessing two armed hijackings in South Africa. Silva told the jury Baird witnessed a shooting while she was living in her early 20s, and this made her “more nervous” for some time, adding: “Before coming to the UK, she seemed to be her normal self again.”
Silva said Baird’s decision to move to the UK after the shooting had been “extremely fast.” She was joined on the move by Trybus, and the couple wed in 2009. Baird worked for Trybus’s company from home, doing his admin and accounts.
IT consultant Trybus is charged with manslaughter, controlling and coercive behaviour and two counts of rape. Aged 35 at the time of Baird’s death, he is also charged with controlling and coercive behaviour between December 2015 and November 2017. He denies the charges.
Yesterday the court heard how Baird took 25 photographs of injuries before she died which show bruising to her face, torso and arm. She sent two of the photos to her mother Michelle Baird and to Trybus – but he did not reply. She sent other photos to friends in the months leading up to her death, jurors were told.
Baird’s phone was restored to factory settings – which deletes personal information – just over a year before her death, the court heard. But data on the device was backed up on the iCloud and was investigated by police after she died.
On Monday, jurors were read Baird’s diary entries in which she describes her husband getting progressively rougher during sex. In one from early 2016 she wrote: “I will never forget the day it all overflowed and he blew up. Progressively sex got rougher and the more I fight back, the more he enjoys it. It’s like there was this side of him hidden all these years.”
He has insisted he “loved and cherished” his wife, telling lawyers her injuries were from “kinky bondage” and consensual “rough sex.” Earlier this month, the court heard how Ms Baird told a crisis hotline they needed to send someone around because she “felt like ending it” only hours before she was found dead
Trybus’ lawyers have suggested Ms Baird had mental health problems and her suicide was a “cry for help that went tragically wrong.”
The trial continues.
