‘IT was self-defence,’ Amberstasia Gassmann insisted after striking Alison Connolly while she was dying of a stab wound inflicted by her sister Charice, a court heard.

And after arriving in custody under arrest on suspicion of murder, the 23-year-old had whispered to officers, ‘it was my sister; my sister killed someone’.

Transcripts from the 23-year-old’s 10 hours of police interviews, read to the jury at Bristol Crown Court, described comments made to various officers after the older sister was arrested.

Both sisters deny murder, while 19-year-old Charice admits manslaughter.

Earlier evidence from neighbour Diane Hopkins described Amberstasia punching Alison to the back of the head after she had been stabbed, saying ‘that’s what happens when you f***with my family.’

But Amberstasia told detectives Alison and her daughter Kylie Hayes had been armed with a fork and the older woman had been ‘coming for her’.

“I pushed her in the face, or hit her or something,” she admitted. “It was self-defence. They had a fork, I do not know if they were eating or something, but the woman was coming at me. I was defending myself.

"When she said she had been stabbed, we were like, ‘shut up, you’re lying’.”

In custody, Amberstasia had provided a short statement which read: “I just wanted to clean my sister up, I didn’t stab anyone,”

Describing the incident, the statement made on May 13 read: “Yesterday morning I was at home in bed when my sister came banging on the door. She was bleeding from her head and was hysterical.

“I could not understand what she was saying. I went to get dressed, and when I came downstairs she wasn’t there. I went and I caught up with her by the tunnel at the underpass, and she was just walking normally.

“When we got there I saw Charice involved in an argument with two women who were coming at her. Charice and this other woman were ripping at each other’s hair, and her daughter was trying to separate them.

“Then the woman said, ‘she’s stabbed me, she’s stabbed me’, pointing.”

DC Marie Stephen, reading her own questions, recited to the jury: “For the benefit of the tape, Amber is quite upset and is crying.

“When you came to the police station, one of the officers said you were whispering, ‘I know you can’t advise me, but it was my sister, and I don’t know what to do.”

“The next note that same officer makes is you say, ‘my sister killed someone. She is only 19 and she is not well’. That bit she says you would not sign.

“Other comments you made were recorded as ‘will you do a line-up, please tell me you will do a line-up. I should not be here, you have got the wrong one.

“You said to the officer, ‘if I was breaking up a fight, and everything was all over the place, it was probably too late by the time, am I still involved? I am going to tell everything. The description is wrong, I am trying to stay positive but it is murder.’”

After instructions from her legal representative, Amberstasia eventually waived her right of silence.

“I had just lost my grandfather the day before, so I hadn’t slept, just kipping and waking up,” she told officers.

“All I could hear was a lot of screaming, and I could hear it was my sister’s voice. She wasn’t saying anything, it was all jumbled up stuff. I went straight after her to find out where she was because she was injured. All I wanted to do was clean her up and make sure she was okay.

"I caught up with her and she said she was going to Danielle’s, so I said okay, we will clean you up there.

“I was stood there and when I turned again expecting my sister to be right at my side, these two women just came bombing at her, shouting. Then it sort of broke out, and there were loads of people all of a sudden. Both of them had their hands on each other’s hair, so it took a while to break them apart. The daughter of this person was trying to stop it, and I pulled them apart and everything was fine.

“I had already broken up the fight, but when I went to walk back, I was turning to look for my sister and couldn’t see her anywhere. I then heard the woman saying, ‘she’s stabbed me, she’s stabbed me.’ One woman said to me, ‘she had a baby, she had a baby.’ I couldn’t do anything.

“I know she [Charice] will tell you the truth. It’s not that I want to lie to you, it’s just it’s my sister.

“The thing is with Charice, she was shouting but it wasn’t like in a rage. She was like really cocky and really sarcastic with things.”

CCTV footage spanning the entire incident at Evelyn House around 3.30pm was shown to the court, including Charice throwing a tricycle at the door of Kylie’s flat.

After the fatal blow, residents are seen running to the doorway with a towel, and Charice and Amber march outside to a black car which pulls up outside the front of the flats within seconds.

“That was my dad,” Amberstasia told police.

“I have come out telling my dad my sister has been injured. I didn’t know what had happened, there had just been madness after madness. I didn’t know if my sister did do it or didn’t do it.”

Eventually Amberstasia admitted the point at which she saw her sister wielding the knife.

“This thing I’m about to say is the hardest thing I am going to do,” she said.

“I tried to stop it. I tried to stop everything. When she said ‘she stabbed me’, I turned to look at my sister and that’s when I seen the knife. I didn’t believe what the woman was saying.

“I feel much better I have told you everything now.”

The trial continues.