Howard Richmond, Canadian soldier, breaks down in murder trial describing overseas tours

A Canadian soldier accused offirst-degree murder in the death of his wifetestified Tuesday for the first time since his trial began, describingthe horrors he witnessed while serving several tours of duty in regions like Croatia and Afghanistan.

• Howard Richmond trial coverage

At the outset of his trial in September, the court heard 53-year-old Howard Richmond admitted to killing his wife, 28-year-old Melissa Richmond.

He has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, with hisdefence teamarguingheisn't criminally responsible because he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after six tours of duty.

His lawyers have argued he had no immediate memory of the killing, because he wasexperiencing dissociative flashbacks at the time.

After the Crown closed its case Tuesday morning, the defence opened by calling Richmond himself to testify.He had to be told not to answer with "sir" every time his defence lawyer, Jason Gilbert, asked him a question.

The soldier gave an account of his early military history and deployment to Croatia in 1992 for seven months as part of a United Nations peacekeeping mission.

He watched a soldier die in a land mine explosion 500 metres away from himand told court he felt guilty for being glad he wasn't killed instead.

Richmond also said he watched a young girl being shot in the chest, and that he wiped up some of her blood and said to a superior officer, "Look what we've done."

He described coming across a Serbian woman crucified on the wall of a building for marrying a Croatian, and told court he questioned his faith in humanity.

"It's one thing to shoot people it's another to dishonour a body like that," he said.

He cried as he testified thathe broke down at the time and felt "numb."

Richmond on medical leave in Dec. 2011

Richmond testified he returned to Ottawa from Afghanistan in the summer of 2011 after spending five months creating sophisticated maps for ground assaults.

He said he immediately went on a training course for several months, which he described as poorly organized.

Richmond called the head instructor a "dump truck," one of the most derogatory terms in the military.

During that time, Richmond said the nightmares he hadbeen having on and off about seeing an 11-year-old girl being executed in Crotia came back "with a vengeance."

He described himself as snapping. He said he was lethargic, had memory loss,startled easily and that his intimate relationship his wifesufferedas a result.

Crying in court,Richmond recalled sleeping curled up in a closet because he liked the confined space that blocked out sound.

He added that his wife would be"on the floor outside and she'd hold my hand through the crack under the closed door."

Richmond was placed on medical leave in December 2011 and has not returned to work since.

Never admitted to killing wife during interrogation

Last week, court heard that Richmond never admitted to killing his wife in a police interrogation that lasted more than seven hours.

The interrogation came four days after the body of 28-year-old Melissa Richmond was found stabbed to death near South Keys Shopping Centre in July 2013. It was also the day of her wake in Petawawa, Ont.

Court hadpreviously heard Melissa Richmond was having an affair and had planned to leave her husband days before she was killed.

"No act justifies that kind of violence," Howard Richmond said during the interrogation after being confronted with a video in whichJeff Thornton, his wife's lover, admitted he had an affair with Melissa Richmond.

"The affair made you so mad you tracked her down, confronted her, tortured her and killed her," Det. Chris Benson told him in the interrogation.

"No," Richmond responded. After a pause he added, "Fine, OK, I want a lawyer."