Stobbe pleads innocence at his murder trial

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This article was published 08/03/2012 (5333 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mark Stobbe denies killing his wife — and claims the discovery of Beverly Rowbotham’s body left him wishing his own life would come to an abrupt end.

“All I wanted to do was to crawl into a hole and die myself,” Stobbe told a Winnipeg jury on Thursday while choking back tears.

Stobbe has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder for the October 2000 slaying Rowbotham.

He is accused of hitting Rowbotham in the head 16 times with either a hatchet or an axe, transferring her body from their home to his car and then parking the vehicle in Selkirk.

The Crown’s theory is Stobbe then bicycled back to his house from Selkirk, attempting to make her death seem like a robbery gone bad.

The Crown spent more than five weeks presenting evidence from nearly 80 witnesses before closing its case on Wednesday.

That prompted defence lawyer Tim Killeen to put his client on the stand Thursday afternoon to address the allegations head-on.

Killeen wasted no time, asking Stobbe a pointed first question.

“Did you kill Bev?” said Killeen.

“No I did not,” Stobbe replied immediately.

Stobbe spent nearly an hour describing the days preceding Rowbotham’s death. His voice cracked with emotion as he described watching her leave the house to go grocery shopping in Selkirk while he watched a World Series baseball game on TV.

“She left and I never saw her again,” he said.

Stobbe said he awoke around 2:30 a.m. to find only himself and their two children in the residence. Jurors heard earlier this week how Stobbe turned white, appeared to feel faint and burst into tears upon learning his wife had been found dead.

Stobbe will continue giving direct evidence on Friday morning before the Crown cross-examines him.

Killeen indicated he will call additional witnesses to testify next week.

The decision to present a case means the defence gives up its right to present closing arguments last. Now the Crown will have that opportunity.

There is no direct physical or forensic evidence linking Stobbe to the slaying but rather an entire case built on circumstantial evidence.