Hugh McColl says he killed Kate Reid in self-defence by hitting her three times with a hammer – but he maintained Tuesday that he had nothing to do with other injuries discovered during a post-mortem examination of her body.

McColl has pleaded not guilty to second degree murder in connection with Reid’s January 2015 death.

He says he killed Reid after she lunged at him with a knife. The two were roommates in an apartment on Burn Place in Kitchener.

Testifying in his own defence on Tuesday, he told the court that he and Reid had been on good terms prior to her death, with him trying to help her quit drinking and her letting him spend his final days in the apartment rent-free.

The attack occurred on Jan. 2, 2015 – three days before McColl says he was planning on moving out. He says Reid was demanding rent money from him.

On the witness stand, McColl was questioned by Crown prosecutor Sidney McLean about where exactly he had hit his roommate with the hammer.

“On the head,” he answered first, adding under further questioning that he “wasn’t paying attention” to the exact spots he was striking because he “wanted her to stop” attacking him.

Jurors heard that McColl dropped the hammer – which he had grabbed off of the coffee table – when he realized that Reid wasn’t going to get up.

McColl testified that that was in part because he had to “go and be sick.”

McLean presented jurors with autopsy photos that showed 11 marks on Reid’s skull, as well as a broken arm, a broken wrist and broken fingers.

McColl repeatedly denied that he had anything to do with those latter injuries, saying he only hit Reid three times – all on the head.

Jurors also heard that McColl tried to hide his actions by throwing the hammer in the garbage and lying to Reid’s daughter about her whereabouts.

While McColl has pleaded not guilty to murder, his trial began with him pleading guilty to indecently interfering with human remains.

That charge relates to him leaving Reid’s remains outside their building, wrapped in plastic.

With reporting by Allison Tanner