Defence closes its case in Brandon murder trial

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This article was published 09/12/2021 (1540 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BRANDON — The trial of a man accused of killed his wife before blowing up their Brandon house in 2019 will go to closing arguments this morning.

Lawyer Saul Simmonds closed the defence’s case Wednesday in the second-degree murder trial of Robert Hughes, 65.

He has pleaded not guilty to killing his wife, Betty Hughes, 63.

A jury of 13 people heard from various witnesses over six days of trial, including city firefighters, police officers, neighbours, a pathologist and Hughes himself.

On Oct. 22, 2019, firefighters responded to the residence on Queens Avenue East house following reports of an explosion. When crews arrived, they found the walls of the home were blown out. Manitoba Hydro workers had to turn off natural gas line access to the property.

Brandon Police Service Const. Travis Foster said on the first day of the trial Betty was found inside the destroyed house with a multitude of cuts and lying in a pool of blood.

Firefighters found Hughes with a noose around his neck, court heard. He was transported to Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg, where he was later arrested by Brandon police Oct. 25.

Pathologist Dr. Dennis Rhee testified Betty had more than a dozen injuries when she died. He told court the ultimate cause of death was blood loss from an 11.7-centimetre wound that extended from her eyebrow across her temple and into her ear.

Rhee estimated Betty would have died of blood loss minutes after the cut. However, he was unable to tell where the person who inflicted the wound was standing or how it happened, just that it was caused by a “weapon.”

Hughes took the witness stand in his own defence Tuesday. He alleged there was a prolonged struggle with his wife in the kitchen. At the time, the two were in a strained relationship and allegedly already agreed to sell the property.

He said Betty grabbed a knife at one point and he was trying to control her arms. Eventually, the two ended up on the kitchen floor and Betty was dead.

Hughes told Crown attorney Christian Vanderhooft he didn’t call 911 because he believed Betty had already died after the “all-out battle.”

Hughes testified he then wanted to take his own life, so he tampered with a natural gas line in the basement, with the intention to breathe it in and die. However, gas filled the room and exploded after catching on a pilot light.

Both the Crown and defence are expected to deliver closing statements to the jury this morning.

Justice Scott Abel said the jury’s deliberations could begin this afternoon or Friday morning.

The trial was originally scheduled to last three weeks, until Dec. 17, but evidence only lasted six days.

— Brandon Sun