A woman who stabbed her housemate to death has claimed she barricaded her door and slept with a knife under her pillow because she was "scared" of her victim.
Eliska Novotna admits stabbing Arunas Ramanauskas up to six times at a remote farm house near Peebles on October 7 last year.
But she denies murdering the Lithuanian, claiming she was acting in self defence as she feared being the victim of a sex attack.
On Friday, Novotna gave evidence in her own defence at the High Court in Dundee for the second day.
She told the court she was "scared" of Mr Ramanauskas after moving in with him just six days before he died.
Advocate depute Richard Goddard asked her: "You claim to have slept with a knife under your pillow yet that night you went to his room with him?"
She replied: "Yes that is true. At that moment I didn't feel there was a big danger to me. Every night I made sure my door was closed and barricaded so he would not get in."
Trial judge Lady Clark of Calton asked her: "What did you barricade the door with?"
Novotna answered: "I had a table and desk that I put behind it."
Mr Goddard asked her: "Why did you barricade the door when there was a Yale lock on it?"
She said: "I tried to lock it from the inside but it was not possible. I tried several times and the lock wasn't working."
Mr Goddard asked her: "Are you making this up Miss Novotna?"
Novotna replied: "I'm on oath; I would not make it up."
The court heard a DVD of the film Butchered was found on her bedroom table beside the knife she claimed she slept with.
Defence counsel Jim Keegan QC asked Novotna: "You appear in this court charged with the murder or Arunas Ramanauskas. Did you intend to take his life?"
Novotna said: "No."
Mr Keegan asked: "How do you feel about it now?"
She said: "I feel bad; I didn't want him to lose his life. I'm sure that he was a good father who looked after his daughter with love and care. He was a helpful brother and hard working man."
Novotna, 23, denies a charge of murdering Mr Ramanauskas on October 7 or 8 last year at The Old Farm House, Easter Happrew Peebles, by repeatedly stabbing him on the body with a knife. She has lodged a special defence of self defence in the case.
The trial, before Lady Clark of Calton and a jury of nine men and six women, continues.
