Crown: Man killed wife in jealous rage
Jealous rage, not self-defence, led a Calgary man to murder his wife and entomb her in a makeshift crypt in their basement, a prosecutor said Thursday.
Crown lawyer Jayme Williams, in her final submissions in the second-degree murder trial of Allan Shyback, said Justice Rosemary Nation should reject his claims he was protecting himself when he killed Lisa Mitchell.
But defence lawyer Balfour Der argued Shyback should be acquitted in Mitchell’s death, saying the accused faced a deadly threat from his wife.
Der conceded Shyback should be convicted of committing an indignity to Mitchell’s body but argued his “after the fact” conduct once she was dead should not lead to the conclusion he intentionally killed her.
Shyback is charged with murdering Mitchell in their Ogden home sometime between Oct. 28, 2012, when her mother last saw her and Nov. 3, 2012, when she failed to show up for a waitressing shift.
Williams said Shyback downplayed his anger when he described the deadly altercation which led to Mitchell’s death.
Shyback told undercover cops and the court that Mitchell came at him with a knife during an argument in their home, but said he couldn’t remember what they were feuding over.
But Williams suggested their dispute was over Mitchell’s careless spending habits and her infidelity.
“This was a hostile, aggressive relationship,” Williams told Nation.
“He is a jealous man and he is aware that she is continuing to run around on him.
“The argument was about money and infidelity.”
The prosecutor said that Shyback strangled Mitchell because he was angry she wasn’t going to change.
And she said Nation should reject Shyback’s claim he was only trying to get himself out of the situation, rather than being an active participant in their fight.
“He was as involved in this argument, this yelling and screaming, as she was.”
But Der said the Court of Queen’s Bench judge should rule Shyback was acting in self-defence when Mitchell attacked him with a knife and acquit his client.
Even if Nation found Shyback wasn’t defending himself against a deadly threat, she should rule he was provoked into choking Mitchell, reducing murder to manslaughter.
He said Shyback’s decision to bend Mitchell’s body into a Rubbermaid tub and cement it in concrete in their basement may have been “gruesome,” but it didn’t prove he committed murder.
“It’s no doubt suspicious, and the after the fact conduct is what sets this case factually apart from so many others,” Der conceded.
Nation will hand down a decision on May 18.
He is a jealous man and he is aware that she is continuing to run around on him. The argument was about money and infidelity.