GRAPHIC WARNING: Some of the details in this article may be disturbing to some readers.
An Edmonton court heard Gina Robinson was afraid of her ex-husband Gilbert — so afraid her friend Denise Snowden testified she and Gina had developed a “safety plan.”
On the night of April 21, 2014, they put that safety plan into practice.
Snowden was the first witness to testify at Gilbert Robinson’s second-degree murder trial. She said Gina contacted her at 7:29 p.m., saying she had to visit her ex-husband’s home. She would be gone by 9 p.m. and would call when she was done.
She never called.
READ MORE: Murder trial for man accused of killing his estranged wife begins
Snowden said she was worried. She tried calling and texting Gina but received no response so she and her son Kyle, who is now 28, drove the seven blocks to Gilbert’s house to check on her friend.
Gina’s car was in the driveway and then the lights in the home went out.
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Snowden said she and her son went to the back door. Denise knocked and rang the bell. Eventually, she said Gilbert opened the door just a crack. Snowden said she yelled, “Where’s Gina?”
At that point, she testified, Gilbert “stepped back, opened the door and swung his arm to his left… sort of motioning his arm towards the stairs.”
Snowden said Gilbert then nonchalantly said, “Oh my God. Gina fell down the stairs. I thought she was gone. I thought she was going to your place.”
In court, Snowden testified: “I saw Gina laying at the bottom of the stairs… She looked like a rag doll. She was limp.
“Her hair that was blonde looked red and she had dried blood on her nose and mouth. Her right shoulder was in the drywall. Her head was completely tilted.”
Snowden told her son to call 9-1-1, which he did. The recording of that 11-minute call was played in court.
Denise and another friend they called, who is also a nurse, tried to help Gina.
The ambulance dispatcher instructed the friends on how to ensure Gina could breathe. Snowden said Gina’s breathing was laboured. She was wheezing.
In the recording, Snowden is heard comforting her unconscious friend, telling her she would be OK.
Snowden testified Gilbert did not come downstairs.
Gina died the next day. Gilbert has been charged with killing her.
His trial is scheduled to last for the next three weeks.
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