The trial of a Winnipeg man accused of killing a young indigenous woman wrapped up Tuesday.
Soon, it will be up to a jury to decide the fate of 32-year-old Brett Ronald Overby.
Closing arguments are now complete in the second-degree murder trial.
Who killed Christine Wood, is no longer a question. Overby admitted it was him. But during his lawyer’s final submission, attorney Sarah Inness said he didn’t intend to.
“He didn’t want to hurt her,” Inness reiterated the 12-person jury. “He has admitted to many facts that don’t paint him in a good light.”
On Monday, Overby took the stand in his own defence and admitted to killing Christine Wood after the pair met for a date. According to Overby, he and Woods had sex on his couch in his apartment then got into an argument.
Overby testified he felt like he had been sexually assaulted by her and refused to have sex without protection. He said the pair then went into the basement of his Burrows Avenue apartment and that Woods came at him with a knife.
But the moments after that incident, Overby told the jury he doesn’t remember.
Get breaking National news
“There are no witnesses to the events in this trial except Brett,” Inness said in her statements. “It is up to you to decide Brett’s intent. It is up to you to decide what was in Brett’s mind when he snapped and killed Christine Wood.”
Inness said that while Overby doesn’t remember exactly what happened, “he killed her quickly in the heat of the moment.”
READ MORE: ‘There was bones’: Farmer who found Christine Wood’s body testifies in court
She ended by saying the jury should find Overby guilty of manslaughter, not murder.
Crown attorney Brent Davidson told the jury that the case was “about lies.”
“Some people are both insincere and disingenuous,” he said.
Davidson pointed to the months of lies Overby told not just those who were closest to him, but to police.
Overby admitted to lying to police and “everyone” about knowing Woods because he was scared.
Under cross-examination Monday, Crown prosecutor Chantal Boutin called into question Overby’s memory lapses and suggested he was lying to the courtroom. A point Davidson made again during his closing statements.
“Do you believe that he saved the truth for the 12 of you?”
“The truth may never have been uncovered,” Davidson said. “Brett Overby took the position to the Winnipeg Police Service that he did not kill Christine Wood.”
“Simply put.., he lied.”
The details of Wood’s injuries are graphic. At times, proving too difficult for her own family to sit and listen to in court.
She was stabbed multiple times, and Davidson said while pathologist’s couldn’t prove which injury killed her, each were likely to have been able to alone.
The Crown said there are no doubt about the facts and believe they have proved Overby’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Davidson ended his argument with “Brett Overby is guilty of second degree murder.”
The jury will begin deliberations Wednesday morning.
Comments