‘She was cold to my touch’: David Yates testifies in his own defence in death of Caitlin Jennings

David Yates testified at his murder trial in his own defence for a second day, alleging abuse by his former girlfriend. Nick Paparella explains.

For the second full day, 53-year-old David Yates continued to testify about the volatile relationship he had with his one-time girlfriend, 22-year-old Caitlin Jennings.

In court on Thursday, he again spoke about how she would regularly physically attack him, and how it all came to a head on July 2-3, 2023, at 562 Kingsway Ave. in west London.

That’s when Yates described the final altercation, testifying, “She was scaring me...she choked me and blacked me out...I kind of came to on the floor.”

Yates continued, “She came at me in the kitchen and kicked me in the groin...that’s how the oven window got smashed...and I puked in the sink.”

“She [Jennings] wouldn’t stop and there was no signs of her being injured...there was not a lot of blood.”

The accused then said after another chokehold he grabbed a hammer.

“I said ‘Stop,’ then I turned around and swung at her. I hit her face to get her off. I had to pull her arms off of me.”

Yates said at that point Jennings wasn’t feeling well and wanted to lie down so he got her a pillow. He headed out to the garage to listen to music and do some drugs. When he returned, he found that Jennings was non-responsive.

“I noticed some discolouration...I tried to get her attention, and she was cold to my touch. I panicked and didn’t know what to do.”

A couple of days later London police would arrive to find the lifeless body of Caitlin Jennings.

An autopsy revealed she had been beaten to death, suffering 200 wounds and dying from multiple blunt force trauma injuries.

Yates would be arrested at the scene and has pled not guilty to second-degree murder.

Before wrapping up, Yates spoke about suicide testifying, “This was a full throttle nightmare for me. I wasn’t accepting the circumstances, so I made the decision I didn’t want to be here anymore.”

Yates’ testimony is expected to resume on Friday in St. Thomas.