Doctor killed wife with lethal injection before spending New Year's Eve with lover, court hears
A Sydney doctor killed his wife with a lethal injection on New Year's Eve because the morgue would be closed the next day, allowing time for evidence to disappear, a court heard.
Brian Crickitt is accused of killing his wife Christine with a lethal insulin injection nearly six years ago.
The court heard the western Sydney GP was motivated by resentment, killing his wife before collecting her life insurance and marrying his lover.
The prosecution claimed that while the couple was together for 21 years, their relationship became so toxic the husband resorted to murder.
The crown said in using his medical knowledge, Crickitt “lied to his wife by way of saying (the injection) was a drug she legitimately needed” or that he “forcibly injected her against her will, by use of violence.”
The court heard that Crickitt had spent New Year's Eve with another woman in 2010 before his wife’s body was found on New Year's Day.
The next morning Crickitt arrived home at 8:15am and discovered Christine’s body, however his call to paramedics was not his first call after the gruesome discovery.
At 8:23am and 8:26am, the doctor made two phone calls to his mistress Linda Livermore before finally calling paramedics at 8:44am, the court heard.
“Ohh um.. I’ve just come home and found my wife on the floor. She’s dead,” Mr Crickitt said in his triple zero phone call.
The prosecution said he knew the morgue would be closed on New Year's Day, allowing evidence of the fatal dose of insulin to disappear from her body.
The court also heard that in the hours before her death, Crickitt deleted an insulin prescription from the medical centre’s computer system.
The court also heard he had wanted to claim her half a million dollars in life insurance.
However the doctor’s defence lawyer has disputed those claims.
“The affair didn’t put him under so much pressure, to kill his wife,” Defence barrister Tim Gartelmann said.
The trial is expected to last several weeks.
