An hour after Laura Letts-Beckett allegedly drowned, off-duty paramedic Darrell Regts attended to her and deemed her to be deceased, he told the jury on Tuesday morning.
The murder trial for Peter Beckett continued on Tuesday at Kamloops Provincial Court.
Beckett is accused of killing his wife Letts-Beckett near Revelstoke in August 2010.
The two were vacationing when Letts-Beckett allegedly fell off of an inflatable boat and drowned.
Regts, who was also camping at Shelter Bay Provincial Park with his wife and two sons, gave his account of the story on Tuesday morning.
While on the beach, Regts recalled seeing Beckett and his wife on the water in a small inflatable boat. He remembers Letts-Beckett waving at him and him waving back as they took off.
Around 8 p.m., Regts, who was back at his campsite with his family, was notified by neighbouring campers that someone had drowned and asked if he could come to help.
After evaluating the body, Regts deemed that Letts-Beckett was deceased.
Beckett told Regts that Letts-Beckett had fallen off of the boat. While operating the vehicle, Beckett heard a splash and looked behind him to see his wife had fallen off of the boat. Unable to reach her, Beckett then swam to the shore to get a rock to weigh him down in order to pull his wife up and swim her to shore.
According to Regts’ timeline, Letts-Beckett had drowned an hour and a half before he assessed her body.
Regts contacted 911 and emergency crews arrived to the scene within a half hour.
Crown has told the jury that Beckett killed his wife for financial gain, citing insurance money, family inheritance, pension salary and a house as the payoff.
Letts-Beckett, 50, from Westlock, Alberta, met Beckett while vacationing in New Zealand. The two returned to Westlock and married shortly after.
Beckett is a former councillor in Napier, New Zealand. Initially not deemed as a suspect, Beckett was arrested in August 2011 for the death of his wife.
The crown will call up over 50 witnesses in the trial which is expected to last until March.
