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Denial in pushing suicide

A woman on trial for pushing her husband to kill himself denied the allegations in a Cranbrook court while admitting to having marriage troubles.

Terri Reimer is accused of counselling her husband, Bill Reimer, to commit suicide as well as administering a noxious substance with the intent to endanger.

He survived and is expected to be one of several witnesses the Crown will call to testify.

Provincial court has previously heard that RCMP responded to a report of a suicidal man with a gun on March 22, 2016.

Terri Reimer testified Thursday that her husband had a history of depression, recounting two other times she believed he was considering suicide.

Reimer told the court that difficulties in their marriage over the past year stemmed from her infidelity and a $300,000 gambling debt she accumulated, but she denied counselling him to kill himself.

"I would never tell him to commit suicide," she said. "I love him too much. I still do."

Rhonda Reimer, who was with the RCMP for three decades and is the sister-in-law of Bill Reimer, testified earlier in the day.

She told the trial she was on the phone with him for hours on the night in question.

He was distraught and crying, testified the sister-in-law, who said she overheard the accused calling him a "coward" and telling him to "go ahead and just do it" and that she would get him the gun.

Court has been told that Bill Reimer consumed a large amount of prescription pills leading up to the incident, and that Terri Reimer threw even more pills at him saying they would work better for the suicide attempt.

The four-day trial that began Wednesday has been adjourned until March 15.



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