The trial for a Ryan James Quigley, a Kelowna man charged with killing his live-in girlfriend, started at the Kelowna courthouse Monday morning.
READ MORE: Boyfriend charged with murder
Quigley is facing a second-degree murder charge for the death of Aimee Jane Parkes.
In an opening statement the prosecutor said Parkes bled to death after suffering 26 stab wounds to her upper body.
The 36-year-old admitted to killing Parkes, attempting to plead guilty manslaughter, but the Crown rejected the plea to move forward with the second-degree murder charge.
Quigley killed Parkes in their Kelowna trailer home on Lakeshore Road on April 1, 2014.
At that time Parkes’ father said the couple had hit a rough patch in their two-year relationship when Quigley lost his job, and she had asked him to move out several times.
Quigley’s legal-aid lawyer says the issues of intent, provocation and intoxication will form the basis of his defence arguments.
Quigley was arrested two days after the killing.
The trial is scheduled to last one month before a judge alone. Quigley waived his right to a jury trial.
-With files from Blaine Gaffney