A jury has found Hugh McColl guilty of the second degree murder of Kate Reid.
The verdict was read out at inside a Kitchener courtroom at about 9 p.m. Wednesday evening.
The case was handed over to the 13-person jury earlier in the afternoon.
Justice Gerald Taylor finished his instructions to the jurors shortly before noon Wednesday, telling them that they could find McColl guilty of second-degree murder, or manslaughter, or of neither offence.
McColl has already pleaded guilty to indecently interfering with human remains. He pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder.
Both charges relate to his killing of 51-year-old Kate Reid on Jan. 2, 2015.
He did not dispute that he killed Reid, but testified that it was in self-defence after she attacked him with a knife.
The Crown claimed McColl made up parts of his testimony to fit around the known facts of the case, arguing that Reid grabbed the knife in self-defence after McColl first attacked her with a hammer.
Jurors heard that Reid was killed by multiple blows to her head. McColl says he hit her three times, while a post-mortem examination showed significantly more trauma.
The autopsy also found that Reid had suffered injuries to her arms and wrists, which McColl denied causing.
Reid and McColl lived together in an apartment on Burn Place in Kitchener.
After Reid’s death, McColl left her body on their balcony for more than three weeks. He then dropped it down to the ground, and dragged it over to a nearby hedge. It was found after the snow melted.
He also used Reid’s credit card and chequebook after her death, including to purchase iPads for himself and his girlfriend.
During his testimony, McColl said that he ended up moving elsewhere in Kitchener, then to Toronto after driving by the Burn Place apartment and seeing police activity.
McColl’s lawyer argued that his client’s actions after Reid’s death suggested he was frightened and panicking, instead of the calculating killer the Crown tried to paint him as being.
With reporting by Nicole Lampa and Max Wark
