Danjou was intoxicated when he killed his wife in July 2018.

Photo: Wayne Moore

Police outside West Kelowna's Best Western Hotel in July 2018.

The man who killed his common-law spouse in July 2018 was intoxicated when the killing occurred, after the couple spent the day drinking at Mission Hill Winery.

The ninth day of Tejwant Danjou's second-degree murder trial got underway Wednesday with testimony by forensic alcohol specialist Karen Chan.

Earlier in the trial, the court heard Danjou and Rama Guaravarapu arrived in the Okanagan from Surrey on July 21, 2018, to taste wine. After getting in an argument at the winery the following day, the couple went to back to the Best Western Hotel in West Kelowna separately, and Danjou got himself a separate room.

Responding to a noise complaint, a hotel employee knocked on the door of Guaravarapu's room just before 7 p.m. and saw Guaravarapu lying on the floor, badly beaten. When police arrived, Danjou was gone.

Guaravarapu was pronounced dead at 8:19 p.m., five minutes before Danjou was found hiding in a nearby dumpster.

Based on blood alcohol readings taken from Danjou at Kelowna General Hospital at 10:15 p.m., Chan estimated that at 7 p.m., a man of Danjou's weight would have had a blood alcohol concentration of somewhere between 119-151 mg/100 ml of blood. This works out to about 0.12 – 0.15 per cent BAC.

“At these BAC ranges, I would expect to see some or all the warning signs of intoxication, which includes bloodshot, watery eyes, odour of liquor on breath, flushed face," Chan said. "The individual may also have deterioration in their fine and gross motor control and co-ordination that may lead to fumbling with objects and problems with balance.

“The individual's cognitive functions, including divided attention, judgment, reaction time and alertness, will also be affected.”

In B.C., those who are caught driving with a BAC of 0.08 per cent or over are subject to an immediate 90-day driving prohibition, while those between 0.05 and 0.08 can be subject to lesser driving prohibitions.

While Danjou has admitted to inflicting the injuries that led to Guaravarapu's death, he says he never intended to kill her. Intoxication can be used as a defence to a murder charge, if the judge finds a person was too intoxicated to inform intent.

Earlier testimony from the doctor that treated Danjou at KGH said he didn't find Danjou to be particularly intoxicated. A security guard at Mission Hill testified that he spoke with the couple while they shared a bottle of wine the afternoon before the killing. He said Danjou was not friendly at all.

Tuesday, the court heard testimony that Danjou had allegedly been violent towards Guaravarapu in the past. Friends of Guaravarapu testified Danjou would regularly drink excessively and accuse her of cheating on him. 

The trial will continue through the week.