A travel rep has told of her terror as her husband threatened to kill her in front of their children.
Adem Makara allegedly held a knife at her throat and threatened to chop her up, Hove Crown Court heard.
Natasha Makara, 30, wept as she alleged he had beaten her and broken her ribs during their turbulent 12-year marriage.
She said she went to a colleague's leaving do in Brighton on May 12 last year.
Mrs Makara told the jury she went to hospital afterwards with a friend and her boyfriend who had been mugged as they waited for taxis home.
She said her husband was waiting for her when she got back to their flat at 3.45am.
Mrs Makara said he asked her where she had been and who she had been with but did not believe her explanation.
Fighting back tears she told the court: "I tried to calm him down but he lost it.
"He picked up a big knife and pressed it against my throat.
"He said he was going to kill me, that he was going to butcher me in front of the children.
"He said he was going to cut me up in pieces.
"The knife was against my neck and I was trying to push it away.
"He told me not to do that or he would kill me."
Mrs Makara said she managed to call the police when her husband went back into the kitchen.
She believed he had gone to get another knife or a knife sharpener to sharpen the one he had threatened her with.
Gabby Henty, prosecuting, asked Mrs Makara about other incidents during the couple's stormy marriage.
Mrs Makara said: "It was turbulent and violent most of the time.
"Adem went on an anger management course in 2002.
"I went to hospital in Brighton after he punched me in the ribs.
"We moved to Turkey in 2003 and the relationship became terrifying.
"He was very abusive, very controlling and very violent.
"He attacked my mother and when I went back to our apartment next morning he held a gun to my head.
"He said if I saw my mother again he would shoot me.
"He went out and locked me in the apartment."
Mrs Makara said she returned to Brighton in 2004 and her husband followed her over the next day.
She said she had not reported any of his alleged violence to the police because he had threatened to take their two children away.
Mrs Makara's 14-year-old brother told police he was woken by the sound of voices while he was staying with her in May.
He said: "I got up and heard my sister say 'why did you do that?' "She kept saying 'why did you put a knife to my throat?'. Then the doorbell rang and the police came in."
Makara, 33, of High Street, Rottingdean, denies making threats to kill.
The trial continues.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article