For day nine of the murder-for-hire trial of two Wingham area resident’s — co-accused Anthony Terpstra took the stand.
On one side, Terpstra’s defence lawyer David Humphrey suggested his client was trying to postpone the hit and in fact pay more money for the hitman to go away.
Humphrey took jurors through recorded conversations Terpstra had with the hitman – who turned out to be an undercover officer known as Lee.
Summing up those conversations, Humphrey presented the idea that Terpstra was always trying to stall Lee’s plans by suggesting his wife, intended victim Sheila Terpstra, was with kids and to hold off on the plan.
Terpstra said he hoped Lee would just get impatient and take the 75 hundred dollars he was paid and leave.
Upon cross-examination by co-accused Serena Benninger’s defence lawyer Phil Cornish, he painted Terpstra as a risk taker with previous infidelities and a history of lies and deceit
Cornish wraps up his cross-examination tomorrow morning.
The Crown begins their cross-examination of Terpstra following that.