A man who stabbed his wife to death last year has appeared at the Old Bailey today.

Ghanaian-born Minta Addido, 38, stabbed his wife Akua Agyeman 15 times to her arms, chest and abdomen at their home in Morris Court, Rigby Place, Enfield Island Village on November 6, 2012.

Ms Agyeman died several weeks later on January 2, 2013 of organ failure.

The first day of his trial begun at the central criminal court in central London with prosecutor Christopher Hehir giving an overview description of the case to the jury; made up of seven women and five men.

He said: “By early October 2012, Minta Addido had come to believe that his wife was being unfaithful to him with one of their neighbours, a man called Oladapo Etti-Williams, who lived with his family at Morris Court.

“The belief that his wife was being unfaithful was the result of his discovering intimate text messages, which she had been exchanging with Mr Etti-Williams.”

Questioning his wife’s infidelity, the Sainsbury’s worker spoke with close friend Kwame Asamoah-Appau on Saturday, October 27, 2012, about killing himself and his wife because of his anger and jealousy, the court heard.

Ms Agyeman’s uncle, Bismark Agyei, arranged for a Ghanaian pastor of a south London church to counsel the couple and seemed to improve their relationship on the surface.

Despite this, the prosecutor said of the defendant in November 2012: “Minta Addido was nursing great anger against his wife, born of jealousy.”

At midnight on the night of November 5, he armed himself with a large kitchen knife from the kitchen of the flat, and attacked his wife while she was in her bed, the jury was told.

Following the first attack, the struggle continued as she climbed out of the flat through the lounge window where she attempted to escape onto a grass verge.

Mr Addido caught her and repeatedly stabbed her as she lay on the ground. She was then run-over by the defendant as he fled the scene, the prosecutor said.

The blade had snapped off of the handle and was found in the nearby bushes.

He was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder the same day after being found at a McDonald’s restaurant in Waltham Cross.

Having denied murdering Ms Agyeman, Addido has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and it will be the jury’s decision to determine whether he intentionally killed his wife, who he had been married to since November 13, 2006.

As a defence, the jury was told there must be evidence that the Ghanaian "excusably lost control" when he killed his wife. Sexual infidelity is not accepted as an excusable loss of control.

The court heard Mr Addido's defence cites an alleged meeting between the couple and Mr Etti-Williams on November 5, in which the neighbour allegedly pointed a gun at Mr Addido, which caused him to lose control and stab his wife later that evening.

Mr Hehir said: “The prosecution say that the incident with the gun simply never happened.

“The plain truth, we say, is that any loss of self-control by the defendant was borne entirely of anger and jealousy at what he perceived to be his wife’s sexual infidelity. In those circumstances he is not entitled to be acquitted of murder."

The case will continue tomorrow with evidence being given.