The brother of a Penticton woman accused of second-degree murder took the witness stand Monday as the trial of Grace Robotti winds down at the Kelowna Law Courts.
Pier Robotti, 63, testified he was at his sister’s house in January 2015 when Roxanne Louie was killed from about two dozen blows to the head with a crowbar.
Grace Robotti has pleaded not guilty claiming the killing was self-defence.
Pier says he came into the darkened room where the two women were fighting and saw Louie with something in her hand on top of his sister on the floor.
He tackled Louie, knocking the object from her, struggling to control Louie’s hands while Grace delivered the fatal blows.
“I knew she was hitting her but I can’t tell you how many times or how long,” he testified.
Under cross examination, the prosecutor asked Mr. Robotti if any of the blows were inflicted while Louie was not moving and he said they were not.
But a pathologist earlier testified several of the blows likely came after Louie was immobile.
He laid the body next to a tree at the bottom of an embankment, crossing the arms, saying to Louie: “You’re with your Elders now and your son is here and you can look down on him.”
Robotti told the court he knows he’ll do jail time for dumping the body.
The night before the siblings went to police to confess, a week after the killing, Grace revealed to her daughter she was responsible for the death.
The daughter testified her mother characterized the killing not as self-defence but as an accident. She was the trial’s final witness.
The Crown and defence lawyers will give their final submissions to the jury later this week.
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