Jagtar Gill's husband tells murder trial he never loved co-accused
The Ottawa man accused of conspiring with his alleged lover to kill his wife in their home testified in court Tuesday that while he had an affair with his co-accused, he was never in love with her.
Bhupinderpal Gill, 41, and Gurpreet Ronald, 37, are both accused of killing Jagtar Gill, a 43-year-old mother of three whose stabbed and bludgeoned body was found in the Gills' Barrhaven home on Jan. 29, 2014.
Both have pleaded not guilty. Although being tried together, the co-defendants have separate legal teams.
The Crown alleges Ronald and Gill were having an affair and killed Jagtar so they could be together.
But Gill, testifying for a third day at his first-degree murder trial, denied to Crown lawyer Jason Neubauer under cross-examination that he ever had feelings for Ronald.
'We were friends, nothing like a couple'
Gill had told Ontario Superior Court Justice Julianne Parfett and the 12-person jury on Monday that he and Ronald, both OC Transpo drivers, began having an affair in 2010 — one he broke off a few months before his wife's killing.
But under repeated questioning Wednesday, he denied it was anything more than a physical relationship.
"So at no point did you ever feel in love?"
Neubauer asked. "No," Gill responded.
Neubauer asked if they were like a couple. "I never thought of it that way. We were friends, nothing like a couple," Gill responded.
"The truth is Mr. Gill you were very much in love with Gurpreet," said Neubauer.
"No sir," Gill responded.
"Never?" Neubauer asked.
"No sir," Gill said.
Gill told wife about affair, he says
Gill admitted he did tell his wife Jagtar about his affair with Ronald but only when he ended it in the fall of 2014.
"I said sorry to Jagtar and that is why Jagtar wanted to move somewhere else so that's why we were doing renovations on our home."
At the time, the Ronalds lived around the corner from the Gills.
Gill told the court he was still "very good friends" with Ronald after their affair ended. He agreed with the prosecutor that he talked or texted many times a day with Ronald after their sexual relationship was over.
Gill testified earlier that when he broke off the affair with Ronald she was having trouble in her marriage and he says he stayed friends with her to "show compassion."
Neubauer put to Gill that "by 2012 you wanted out of your relationship to Jagtar."
"No that's not true sir," Gill said.
"You'd do anything to get rid of her," said Neubauer.
"No I have not said anything like that to anyone," replied Gill.
Crown accuses Gill of changing story
Neubauer questioned Gill's version of events and pointed to past instances in which he lied to police.
In a police interrogation video played earlier in court, Gill told investigators he and Ronald were co-workers and friends, but nothing more, only to admit later in the same interview that they had in fact had an affair.
Police had also captured Gill stuffing a replica of a bar believed to be one of the murder weapons into his clothes on surveillance video. Officers then followed him to nearby woods where they watched him dispose of the bar.
"Every time you are caught in a lie you come up with a new one," Neubauer said.
Court previously heard that blood matching Ronald's DNA was found on the rug next to Jagtar Gill's body, in the kitchen, the upstairs hallway and upstairs bathroom in the Gill home.
'She never told me anything'
Jurors also saw a police interrogation video in which Gill acknowledged he moved his wife's body and placed two knives he found nearby in the sink. Gill's neighbour has testified that Gill told him after his wife's death that he washed the knives clean of blood.
On Monday Gill denied that he washed the knives, but did say he placed them in the sink and washed blood off his hands.
But Neubauer pressed him on Tuesday, accusing Gill of cleaning the knives to protect Ronald.
"Gurpreet used those knives to kill Jagtar and it was your job to get rid of them to protect you and Gurpreet," he said.
"I had no knowledge of her doing that and she never told me anything," Gill said.
Worried about what Jagtar's family would think
Police also captured Gill stuffing a replica of a bar believed to be one of the murder weapons into his clothes on surveillance video. Officers then followed him to a nearby wooded field where they watched him dispose of it.
Gill told the court he was nervous and scared about picking up the metal weight lifting bar because his fingerprints were on it.
He's testified he picked it up impulsively thinking an intruder who attacked his wife might still be in the house.
He told the court that in 2004 his brother in law Satnam Mann went to police and said he (Gill) had threatened to kill Jagtar.
Gill said that allegation weighed heavily on his mind when he handled the bar and he thought if his in-laws found out they'd say he was guilty of his wife's murder.
The trial continues Wednesday.
