Trial told accused upset by wife’s death

Peter Beckett charged with killing his wife in 2010

A man accused of drowning his wife in 2010 cried as her lifeless body was brought to shore, a Kelowna court heard Monday.

Peter Beckett appeared distraught as the body of his wife, Laura, was moved by boat to Shelter Bay on Upper Arrow Lake near Revelstoke on Aug. 18, 2010, a witness testified.

“He was tearful and he was crying?” Beckett’s lawyer asked the witness, John Saharchuk.

“Yes,” Saharchuk testified, adding Beckett also asked if further efforts could be made to revive Laura.

Saharchuk and his wife, Marlene, had been boating nearby when a frantic Beckett came roaring up to them in an inflatable boat and told them his wife was in distress. When they reached shore, Saharchuk said he tried to revive the woman even though he didn’t know CPR.

“I was pushing on her chest,” Saharchuk testified.

When the woman didn’t respond, the Saharchuks and Beckett put her on the boat and took her to the Shelter Bay ferry landing, where paramedics were waiting.

The Crown says Beckett planned the murder of his wife in an isolated part of the lake to cash in on a life insurance policy and get at her inheritance. Her parents are wealthy cattle ranchers in northern Alberta.

Beckett says his wife either fell off the boat accidentally or took her own life. He says he first retrieved her body from the lake after weighing himself down with a large rock, then flagged down the Saharchuks as they passed by on their pontoon boat.

On the way to Shelter Bay, Saharchuk testified, an emotional Beckett said, “I’ve been all over the world with this lady.” Beckett also jumped out of the boat and ran the last 3.6 metres to shore, Saharchuk testified.

Beckett is a former city councillor in Napier, New Zealand. Laura Beckett was a teacher in the small Alberta town of Dapp, near Westlock.

The trial before a jury continues.