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Winnipeg Free Press - ONLINE EDITION

Jury begins deliberations in case of man who killed wife with hammer

By: Mike McIntyre

Posted: 03/11/2013 5:43 PM

A Winnipeg jury must now get inside the head of an admitted killer to determine if he is criminally responsible for his crime.

Deliberations are set to begin Tuesday in the case of Miloslav Kapsik, who claims he was mentally ill when he beat his wife of 36 years to death with a claw hammer.

Kapsik, 63, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder for the March 2010 slaying of Ludmila, 59. If successful, he would not go to prison, but would instead be placed under the care of medical officials.

Crown and defence lawyers wrapped up the case Monday with vastly different closing arguments for jurors to consider.

Defence lawyer Greg Brodsky is relying on the word of an independent medical expert who claims Kapsik was suffering from "major depression and psychotic features" at the time of the attack.

Dr. Giovana Levin, a forensic psychiatrist at Health Sciences Centre, spent months working closely with Kapsik following his arrest. She said he was wrestling with sleep deprivation, suicidal thoughts and was hearing voices. Kapsik said he began hearing "mumbling" in his head in early 2009 and considered ending his own life. He bought a rope and planned to hang himself, but changed his mind, jurors were told.

The Crown is challenging Levin’s diagnosis, suggesting to jurors on Monday that she "lost her objectivity" in offering her opinion.

"He knew exactly what he was doing. He knew it was wrong," said prosecutor Nicole Roch. "He continued to hit her again and again and again. Her hands were still up by her head when she died. He didn’t stop when she tried to get away. There’s no question Mr. Kapsik intended for Ludmila to die that night."

Roch urged jurors to look at the brutality of the crime, in which Kapsik smashed his wife’s head at least 57 times as she crawled across the floor bleeding to death. He then calmly washed himself, changed his clothes and sat on the couch near her body for an hour before calling 911.

"His rage was finally expended," said Roch. She suggested the best evidence of his state-of-mind comes from Kapsik himself, who gave police a lengthy videotaped statement after his arrest. Kapsik showed "clear and deliberate thinking" immediately after the killing and was anything but "disorganized," she said.

Two homicide investigators spent hours grilling Kapsik, questioning whether Ludmila had said or done something to provoke him. Ludmila was attacked inside their Jefferson Avenue apartment. Kapsik said the couple was watching TV when he got up, grabbed a hammer and began hitting his wife from behind.

Medical records showed Kapsik was first diagnosed with severe depression in 2003. He gave up his job as a bus driver because he was unable to cope. The Kapsiks moved to Canada from the Czech Republic and had no children or any prior history of domestic violence.

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