Life sentence for Bonnyrigg man who slit victim's throat

A MAN who flew into a rage and slit his lodger's boyfriend's throat after the couple accidentally woke him up has been jailed for life for the brutal killing.
Victim: Carlo Volante was stabbed multiple timesVictim: Carlo Volante was stabbed multiple times
Victim: Carlo Volante was stabbed multiple times

Robert Kay went berserk, repeatedly stabbing 40-year-old Carlo Volante in a “one sided violent attack” in front of his terrified girlfriend at his Bonnyrigg home.

Mhairi Hughes screamed “You’re going to kill him” as Kay, 36, rained blows on him and he shouted back “You’re f****** right, he’s dead” in the daylight attack witnessed by horrified neighbours.

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While on remand Kay wrote “well kid af f***** up once again. Big time”.

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At the High Court in Glasgow Kay, pled guilty to murdering Mr Volante at Auld Coal Grove, Bonnyrigg, on January 3, 2017.

Judge Lady Rae jailed Kay for life with a minimum period of 17 years, reduced from 21.

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Passing sentence she said: “This was a brutal killing with an extreme level of violence used towards the deceased.”

Lady Rae added that it was “determined effort to kill Mr Volante”.

The court heard Kay rented a room to Miss Hughes who was in a relationship with Mr Volante, who lived with her.

Advocate depute Angela Gray said around 2pm on January 3, Mr Volante and Miss Hughes decided to go to her mum’s house to walk the dog.

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She said: “In doing so they also woke up the accused who shouted ‘get up or get f****** out’.

“Miss Hughes shouted at Kay and Mr Volante told Kaynot to shout at Miss Hughes.

“Miss Hughes felt she had enough and was not going to put up with Kay any longer so she and Mr Volante decided they were moving out right away.”

They started packing belongings and shouted at one another to hurry and Mr Volante realised he should have been at work that day.

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He shouted at Kay because he was annoyed at missing work then went downstairs to take bags outside for his girlfriend.

Seconds later Miss Hughes heard a disturbance and looked out to see Kay running down the path, away from the door.

She heard Mr Volante shouting “What’s this c**t all about, he has a knife” and other witnesses saw Kay chase after him.

Mr Volante ended up on the ground and Kay stood over him and stabbed him “a number of times on the upper body”.

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Miss Gray added: “Miss Hughes at this time was only five metres away, not going any closer out of fear and was shouting and screaming at Kay to leave Mr Volante alone.

“She noted that Mr Volante, who had initially been kicking his legs out at Kay, had stopped moving after the first two or three blows.

“She shouted at Kay ‘you’re going to kill him’ to which he shouted ‘you’re f****** right, he’s dead’.”

Onlookers then saw Kay slit Mr Volante’s throat before going back to his house.

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On being told by a neighbour that it was believed Mr Volante was dead he said “good”.

Kay was outside on the phone to his lawyer and because of the concern of him having a knife he was handcuffed and taken inside where he told officers where the knife was.

Mr Volante was taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary but pronounced dead at 5.52pm.

He was found to have 14 sharp blade injuries with nine of them being stab type injuries.

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Two signifcant injuries were through the heart and jugular vein.

While on remand Kay – who has previous convictions for assault – sent a letter to his brother saying “am in the big house once again. Yeah f****** ha. Well kid af f****** up once again. Big time.

“Aye a think Tom was just practice for what happened last week to Carlo.”

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It was said in court that reference to Tom relates to Kay stabbing his uncle which lead to a four year prison sentence in 2001.

Defence QC Donald Findlay said Kay has no recollection of the incident and the last memory beforehand is an alleged threat made by Mr Volante.

He added that Kay had shown contrition and “appreciates the awful consequences”.

Detective Inspector David Pinkney from the Major Investigation Team said:

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“Kay’s guilty plea is testament to the overwhelming evidence gathered against him and provided by the local community.

“This spares Carlo’s family and friends from reliving this horrific ordeal if it were to go to a full trial.

“My thoughts and sympathies are with Carlo’s loved ones at this time and I would like to thank them all for their assistance and support during our investigation.”