Defence calls no evidence in attempted murder trial

After a little more than a week of testimony, the attempted murder trial of Mark Rumboldt wrapped up Wednesday morning, with defence lawyer Jeff Brace announcing he would not call any evidence.

Brace and Crown prosecutor Scott Hurley will present their closing submissions to the jury in Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court in St. John’s Thursday afternoon. Justice David Hurley will then instruct the jury members before they are sequestered until they reach a verdict.

Rumboldt, 58, is accused of trying to murder his now-ex-wife and administering to her a noxious substance, namely Ativan and sleeping pills.

Hurley rested his case late Tuesday afternoon, after calling paramedics, RNC officers, medical staff from St. Clare’s hospital, a forensic toxicology expert and Rumboldt’s ex-wife to testify.

The complainant told the court she and Rumboldt had been having trouble in their 25year marriage and had been seeing a counsellor for about three months as of Jan. 22, 2016. That night, the couple had decided to have a quiet night at home with homemade pizza and some drinks, she said. The woman told the court Rumboldt had poured her two glasses of wine and ran her a bath. While she was in the tub, she said, he came into the bathroom and collapsed on the floor.

The woman said she remembered jumping up and telling him that she was going to call 911, but had no other memory until two days later, when police told her of the allegation against her husband.

The woman had called for an ambulance, telling the operator her husband had taken Ativan and alcohol. Paramedics and police officers arrived and found the couple intoxicated, but saw no sign of anything that would explain their extreme level of impairment. They were both taken to hospital.

Rumboldt had been discharged before his wife and took a seat by her bedside. At one point a nurse went to check on the woman and found Rumboldt holding a facecloth to her mouth. When the cloth was moved, the nurse noted a white residue and what appeared to be pieces of pills in the woman’s mouth. She called for the doctor and two other nurses, and a sweep of the woman’s mouth revealed a fluid later found to contain Ativan, a sleeping pill and codeine. A pill bottle belonging to Rumboldt was found on her bed, and a bag containing more medications prescribed to him was found underneath her blanket.

The woman was also found to have high levels of Ativan and the sleeping pill in her blood, but no trace of codeine.

Medical staff called the RNC, and officers arrived to take statements before taking Rumboldt home. Three hours later they returned to the home and asked him to leave so they could secure it while waiting to get a warrant to search the inside.

Investigators weren’t granted the warrant, however, with a provincial court judge ruling the scene contaminated because Rumboldt had been there alone for three hours. As a result, the glasses of wine were not forensically tested.

Hurley has suggested Rumboldt poisoned his wife by mixing medications in her wine.

Brace has pointed out that since the woman has no memory of what happened after her husband collapsed, there’s no way to know for sure that she didn’t take the pills herself.