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Detective Chris Benson sat across from the suspect, demanding he come clean about the night he killed his unfaithful wife.
But Howard Richmond wasn’t biting.
“‘I’ve told you everything I know,” Richmond tells the detective in an Aug. 2, 2013, videotaped interview shown at the Canadian soldier’s first-degree murder trial on Thursday.
“Howard, it’s time for the truth,” the towering Benson demanded.
Melissa Richmond
In the interview room at Elgin Street police headquarters, Richmond, at the time on leave from the Canadian Forces for post-traumatic stress disorder, presented himself as a grieving husband who seemed confused about the evidence police showed him — including a security video of his truck pulling into the parking lot of South Keys Shopping Centre just minutes after his wife, Melissa, did.
“I don’t know how to explain that,” Richmond, 52, said.
“Did you follow her?” Benson asked.
Richmond got fed up at one point and asked to leave. He was already running late, he said, for his wife’s wake.
Then Benson got under his skin.
“Was Melissa leaving you for someone else?” the detective pressed.
“Don’t start saying s— about Melissa,” Richmond fired back, appearing unwilling to believe his wife was stepping out on him.
“You couldn’t deal with it,” the detective continued.
Richmond tells the detective to either arrest him or let him go.
“You killed her, Howard. Melissa needs justice,” Benson said.
Richmond said things with Melissa, 28, had never been better and that it was “not in her nature” to cheat on him.
“I know her better than anybody,” Richmond declared.
But the reality, as the jury has heard, was that Melissa was having an affair with government IT worker Jeff Thornton, a close friend of Richmond. The jury has heard Thornton testify that Melissa had made him swear to take their affair “to the grave” for fear her husband would kill her if he ever found out.
Richmond has admitted to stabbing his wife to death with a knife and screwdriver just after a midnight rendezvous in an Ottawa parking lot, a 30-minute drive north from their big home in Winchester.
His defence team — Joseph Addelman and Jason Gilbert — are urging the jury to find their client not criminally responsible because he was in the throes of PTSD and couldn’t form the intent to kill, let alone know it was wrong.
Richmond was diagnosed with PTSD in 2011 after three tours of duty in Afghanistan. He thought about seeking help years earlier, but a senior officer ridiculed him so he decided against it.
The trial continues Friday.
gdimmock@ottawacitizen.com
www.twitter.com/crimegarden
查看原文...
But Howard Richmond wasn’t biting.
“‘I’ve told you everything I know,” Richmond tells the detective in an Aug. 2, 2013, videotaped interview shown at the Canadian soldier’s first-degree murder trial on Thursday.
“Howard, it’s time for the truth,” the towering Benson demanded.
Melissa Richmond
In the interview room at Elgin Street police headquarters, Richmond, at the time on leave from the Canadian Forces for post-traumatic stress disorder, presented himself as a grieving husband who seemed confused about the evidence police showed him — including a security video of his truck pulling into the parking lot of South Keys Shopping Centre just minutes after his wife, Melissa, did.
“I don’t know how to explain that,” Richmond, 52, said.
“Did you follow her?” Benson asked.
Richmond got fed up at one point and asked to leave. He was already running late, he said, for his wife’s wake.
Then Benson got under his skin.
“Was Melissa leaving you for someone else?” the detective pressed.
“Don’t start saying s— about Melissa,” Richmond fired back, appearing unwilling to believe his wife was stepping out on him.
“You couldn’t deal with it,” the detective continued.
Richmond tells the detective to either arrest him or let him go.
“You killed her, Howard. Melissa needs justice,” Benson said.
Richmond said things with Melissa, 28, had never been better and that it was “not in her nature” to cheat on him.
“I know her better than anybody,” Richmond declared.
But the reality, as the jury has heard, was that Melissa was having an affair with government IT worker Jeff Thornton, a close friend of Richmond. The jury has heard Thornton testify that Melissa had made him swear to take their affair “to the grave” for fear her husband would kill her if he ever found out.
Richmond has admitted to stabbing his wife to death with a knife and screwdriver just after a midnight rendezvous in an Ottawa parking lot, a 30-minute drive north from their big home in Winchester.
His defence team — Joseph Addelman and Jason Gilbert — are urging the jury to find their client not criminally responsible because he was in the throes of PTSD and couldn’t form the intent to kill, let alone know it was wrong.
Richmond was diagnosed with PTSD in 2011 after three tours of duty in Afghanistan. He thought about seeking help years earlier, but a senior officer ridiculed him so he decided against it.
The trial continues Friday.
gdimmock@ottawacitizen.com
www.twitter.com/crimegarden
查看原文...
