A man allegedly murdered by his housemate was found dead with a dressing gown cord tied round his neck and eyes, a court has been told.
Arunas Ramanauskas was found by paramedics at a remote farmhouse at Easter Happrew Farm, near Peebles, following the alleged attack by Eliska Novotna.
On Monday, the High Court in Dundee heard the ambulance staff found him wearing only a pair of underpants and blindfolded by the belt.
PC Barry Haig said he was the first officer to arrive on the scene at around 4.40am on October 8 last year.
He told how paramedics directed him upstairs where he found Mr Ramanauskas.
PC Haid said: "He was on his back on the floor, with his legs almost in a figure four position. He had a burgundy dressing gown on the floor next to him. The cord was round his neck and his eyes.
"He was dressed only in underpants. There was an incision directly above where his heart was. The room was quite dishevelled - there was a double bed and on it there were two pools of what looked like blood."
The jury were shown a series of pictures of the scene.
Mark Heron, a senior scene examiner for the Scottish Police Services Authority, later arrived to forensically examine the scene.
He said: "The cord was placed over his eyes and round the back of the neck and tied in a half knot. The cord then came round the front and was tied in full knot. There were obvious injuries to his chest and leg."
Mr Heron added that a knife was found under the dressing gown on the floor beside Mr Ramanauskas's body.
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 further denies attempting to defeat the ends of justice by refusing to comply with a warrant instructing her to submit to medical examination at Borders General Hospital, Melrose, on October 8 2011.Novotna 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 woman, continues.
The trial continues.
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