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The family of a man who plunged a knife into his own heart say they will never forgive his girlfriend for leaving him for dead.
The parents and sister of Haydyn Vintiner were speaking after an inquest into his death.
The hearing heard Mr Vintiner’s girlfriend Sarah Avey waited almost 12 hours to call for help after pulling the blade from his chest and fleeing their seafront flat.
Mr Vintiner’s dad Leon, 75, said: “She wasn’t to know he couldn’t be saved. You wouldn’t leave an injured animal like that.”
The 38-year-old hairdresser told an inquest that father-of-two Mr Vintiner plunged the knife into himself on September 15 last year, but refused to explain why she did not call 999 until the following morning.
Her two teenage children also failed to call for help, instead staying the night with their mother at a friend’s house.
Coroner Rebecca Cobb ruled out suicide and unlawful killing verdicts, but said she was satisfied Mr Vintiner had inflicted the fatal wound himself.
During the inquest, Mr Vintiner’s father Leon, 75, had accused Miss Avey of stabbing his son.
Speaking after the verdict, he said: “She knew he was badly wounded and even pulled the knife out, but she didn’t get medical help for him.
“Yet afterwards she was saying how much she loved him.
“She wasn’t to know he couldn’t be saved. I just don’t understand why she or her son or daughter didn’t call an ambulance. You wouldn’t leave an injured animal like that."
Mr Vintiner and his wife Jeanette, 74, and daughter, Simone Vintiner, left the inquest bitterly disappointed.
Miss Vintiner, a housekeeper at a Royal British Legion home, said: “We just don’t have the answers we were hoping for after all this time.
“But we are just relieved it wasn’t a suicide finding because, although he sometimes suffered with depression, we don’t think Haydyn would ever have taken his own life.”
Mr and Mrs Vintiner, who have lived in Cadiz, in Spain, since 2003, say the last year has been the most traumatic of their lives.
The couple are now planning to sell up in Spain and return to Kent.
Giving evidence at the hearing, Det Con Julian Skeath, who led the investigation, said Miss Avey called police at 10.31am on September 15 and told them there had been an incident at the flat.
She said Mr Vintiner had stabbed himself the previous evening and she had removed the knife but not called the emergency services.
He said officers went to the flat and found the body and then PC Simon Conabeer went to the hair salon in Mortimer Street to speak to Miss Avey.
PC Conabeer told her: “You called us about your partner. I’m sorry to say he is deceased and I’m arresting you on suspicion of murder.”
DC Skeath said: “She made no immediate reply but later said to the officer ‘You can tell he did it to himself with all the tests you do, can’t you? He’s been trying to kill himself for months – I don’t think he would have meant to have done it’.”
Miss Avey later refused to answer any police questions but gave a brief statement, saying: “I didn’t stab Haydyn. He thrust the knife into his chest and I pulled it out. I left and took my children to a friend’s house.”
Miss Avey said she had called Samantha Grace and her partner that night, who were close friends of Mr Vintiner’s, and had expected them to do something.
DC Skeath said an investigation of the scene found most blood in the kitchen and the bloodied knife in a spare room used for laundry.
A graphic account of the volatile atmosphere in Haydyn Vintiner’s flat was given to the inquest.
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His partner’s 14-year-old daughter, Holly Bragg, gave a statement to police after the death of the 39-year-old project manager, who died from a knife wound to his heart.
She told detectives investigating the death that Mr Vintiner regularly rowed with her mother Sarah Avey and had threatened to kill himself “loads of times”.
She said: “I’ve seen blood before and stuff smashed up.”
On the night of the tragedy, the couple had returned to his flat in Central Parade, Herne Bay, after eating out at Berry’s in the town.
Holly told police she was suddenly woken when her mother came into her room and jumped in her bed.
She said: “She came in for safety, then Haydyn came in and grabbed her arms and dragged her out of the room. They were just arguing. I was sick of it. I hate it.
“Haydyn was in the hall and I could hear him saying, ‘I’ll stab myself’, and my mum’s like, ‘just go and do it’.
“He’s made threats in the past and I could hear him counting down, like 10, 9, 8 ... then mum said ‘Oh, he’s only gone and stabbed himself’.”
Coroner Rebecca Cobb said there was insufficient evidence to be sure Mr Vintiner intended to take his own life.
But making her findings at the conclusion of the inquest, she said she did believe he had stabbed himself.
She said: “The pathology evidence was not able to be conclusive about various aspects that the family and I were concerned about.
“But I do consider that it was of assistance as regards the likely events.
"From the pathologist’s experience, the bare chest is commonly a site of selection for those inflicting self harm.
“He also indicated the horizontal marks on the chest were very controlled. There were no signs of a struggle and there was nothing inconsistent in the pathological evidence with the injury being self-inflicted.
“That also agrees with the account given by Miss Avey in her statement, albeit she declined, as is her right, to answer questions relating to the incident.
“I’m not permitted to draw any inference in her not answering any questions.
“In order to reach two kinds of conclusion – unlawful killing or suicide – I need would need to be sure beyond all reasonable doubt and I am not as regards either of those.
“There is no relevant evidence of unlawful killing and there was no note left, and Mr Vintiner had some alcohol, which might well have affected his judgement.”
Recording a brief narrative verdict, Miss Cobb said it was more likely than not that he died from a self-inflicted wound.
She added: “I have been conscious of the family’s reaction to this very sad event and I appreciate they may be very disappointed with my findings, but hope they understand how I have reached them.”
