Howard Richmond made up flashbacks to explain killing wife: Crown

Canadian soldier Howard Richmond denied he made upa warflashblackto explain why he stabbed his wife to death in a ravine near South Keys Shopping Centre as he was cross-examined at his first-degree murder trial on Tuesday.

• IN DEPTH |Howard Richmond trial coverage

"Did you make that up?" Crown prosecutor Peter Napier asked.

"No, sir," Richmond responded.

Richmond, 53,admitted at the outset of his trial in September thathe killed 28-year-old Melissa Richmond in July 2013 but he pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. His lawyers have argued he is not criminally responsiblebecause he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder anddissociativeflashbacks at the time brought on byhis tours of duty.

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

Napier suggested Tuesday that Howard Richmond hadmotiveto kill his wife.

"No, sir," Richmond said.

Napier went on to say that Melissa Richmond was moving on with her life without her husband.

"I don't know, sir," Richmond said.

Richmondtestified last week thathe agreed to meet his wife in the ravine in July 2013 to act out a sexual role-playing gamein which he would play a bad man attacking her.

He testifiedhe was holding a screwdriver whenhe heard a loud noisethat reminded him of his military tour in Croatia in 1992. He said he stabbed his wife because he felt he was "fighting" for his life.

When asked why he stabbed her in the back, Richmond said,"I was just stabbing her wildly."

Cross-examinationcontinues Tuesday afternoon.