Source: Ottawa Citizen
Page: A3
Date: Wednesday 30 September 2015
Section: City
Outlet: Ottawa Citizen
Byline: Gary Dimmock
Illustrations:
/ Melissa Richmond
Headline: Soldier in throes of PTSD killed his wife, defence says
Howard Richmond stabbed his wife to death with a knife and screwdriver just after midnight on July 25, 2013, left her body on the edge of a ravine by the South Keys Shopping Centre, then went home and hid his bloody clothes and weapons in the ductwork in the basement of his Winchester home.
In a dramatic opening statement to the jury on Day One of Richmond's first-degree murder trial Tuesday, his defence team admitted that the soldier killed 28-yearold Melissa Richmond while in the throes of chronic post traumatic stress disorder. They insisted the killing was not the act of a jealous husband enraged over her secret love affair.
Defence lawyer Jason Gilbert said the defence doesn't dispute the Crown's key facts of the killing - how he did it, where he did it and when he did it.
"The one bone of contention is the why," Gilbert told court.
The lawyer said the evidence will show that Richmond, 52, had long suffered from severe PTSD after enduring "unspeakable horrors" on tours of duty in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Croatia - including the day he watched helplessly as a young girl was gunned down before him, and another time where he came upon a pregnant woman who had been crucified and disembowelled for adultery.
The defence lawyer portrayed Richmond as a "valiant" soldier who is "as much a Canadian hero as any of the men and women who donned a uniform and put their lives on the line in their service to this great nation."
The defence lawyer told the jury they'll see and hear evidence that proves Richmond is not criminally responsible by reason of mental disorder and was incapable of forming the intent to kill, let alone know it was wrong. He said Richmond was in an automatic state - "a break from reality" - at the time of the killing, and suggested he might have mistaken his wife for someone else while reliving a flashback horror from the battlefield.
Richmond first sought psychiatric help years ago, only to be ridiculed by a senior officer, the lawyer told court. He was finally diagnosed with PTSD years later in 2011.
Richmond had no memory of what happened on the night of the killing, the lawyer said.
Richmond reported his wife missing to police the next day and urged the public to help find her. Ottawa police arrested him days later in an exhaustive investigation that included video surveillance, security footage from the mall, and DNA evidence seized from the crime scene and his basement, the court heard.
Crown prosecutor Peter Napier addressed the jury earlier on Tuesday afternoon, presenting Melissa Richmond as a "happy, vibrant" woman who was making plans to leave her husband.
She had just told her parents she was ending her marriage and that she was worried about her finances because money was tight, the prosecutor told court.
"She was on the verge of making changes, but she would not live to see the morning sunlight on July 25," Napier told the jury.
Melissa Richmond was stabbed multiple times in the head, neck and left arm - including defensive wounds suffered as she tried to stop her husband from killing her, the prosecutor told the jury.
The trial continues Wednesday. gdimmock@ottawacitizen.com twitter.com/crimegarden
Maybe an "expert panel" or "third-party review" of some sort to take an outsider look at things - and no guarantees of any recommendations having to be implemented.
