Is Peter Beckett a grieving husband who lost his wife in a tragic accident or the mastermind of a murder plot put into motion for financial gain?
Marilyn Sandford, the defence lawyer for the former New Zealand politician charged with the 2010 murder of his wife, argued it鈥檚 the former and the argument that Beckett planned a murder for riches simply doesn鈥漷 make sense.
Sandford told the 麻豆精选 jury if Beckett was motivated by money at all, he鈥檇 be better off keeping his wife alive. As a longtime school teacher Laura Letts-Beckett made a good wage that couldn鈥檛 be replaced by the pension she鈥檇 leave behind which, including CPP, amounted to around $2,600 a month.
When it came to the Crown鈥檚 allegation that an insurance payout offered incentive for Beckett to kill his wife, Sandford said that there鈥檚 no reason to make that assumption if you view the accused under the veil of innocence.
Issues raised through the case, such as Beckett taking out an accidental death insurance policy in the months before Letts-Beckett died, Sandford said, aren鈥檛 unusual unless you鈥檙e operating from the premise that he is a murderer.
Besides, she said, Letts-Beckett was accustomed to carrying a signifcant life insurance policy.
Between her work benefits and a $200,000 life insurance policy attached to a loan for a large motorhome the couple shared, Laura Letts-Beckett was insured for roughly $644,000 as early as 2006.
That amount dipped for around a year when the couple switched over financing for the motorhome and the policy they took out months before the drowning brought them back up.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 the same total amount of life insurance she had in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009,鈥� said Sandford.
鈥淲here is the planning and deliberation? When did it start? 鈥as Peter Beckett planning and deliberating in 2006 when he bought the motorhome? 鈥榃ell let鈥檚 buy that and get life insurance on that debt. Four years from now I will kill you and I will get that money.鈥欌��
It doesn鈥檛 make sense, she told jurors.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no evidence of a financial motive for claiming life insurance 鈥� and you may have thought this is a life insurance case,鈥� she said.
She also told jurors that in the months after Letts-Beckett鈥檚 death, Beckett never tried to cash in on the life insurance policy that had been taken out, nor did he make any real efforts to secure any potential inheritance from his wife鈥檚 well-off parents 鈥� another Crown theory.
鈥淲hat is the Crown premise? Peter Beckett believes that by killing his wife he could then sue the Letts (family) for the money that his wife would have inherited from them someday, if they predeceased her?鈥� she said. 鈥淚f you accept that you have to put aside all common sense about how wills work and how estates work.鈥�
Prosecution, she said, would like you to ignore the fact that Letts-Beckett鈥檚 parents were still alive and if he wanted to gain from their future death he could have sued them when Letts-Beckett was alive.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a tortured theory,鈥� she said.
She also dismissed all evidence from a jail-cell informant alleged to have been asked to get rid of anything that may get in the way of Beckett鈥檚 future freedom.
His motivation was self-serving and unreliable.
Crown counsel Iain Currie started his closing arguments toward the end of the day, and they鈥檙e set to continue through today.
鈥淪ometimes accidents happen in tragically unfortunate circumstances. Accidents on water happen. People drown,鈥� said Currie.
鈥淥f course it can happen. Make no mistake the burden to prove this accident didn鈥檛 happen, that Laura Letts-Beckett fell from that boat, didn鈥檛 stumble, didn鈥檛 faint, didn鈥檛 fall鈥� the burden is high.鈥�
But, he continued, you have to start somewhere when considering the case at hand and suspicion is a good place.
He argued that Beckett chose a private place for a reason.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the first place where you can鈥檛 be seen, the first place you can鈥檛 be detected,鈥� he said, adding that it鈥檚 just suspicious and nothing more.
Building on that suspicion, he said, is the accidental death insurance. Less than two months before her death, Mr. and Mrs. Beckett applied for accidental death insurance.
鈥淲hat鈥檚 suspicious about accidental death policies is that it only works with an accidental death,鈥� he said.
The previous insurance policy that Sandford pointed to was a life insurance policy not an 鈥渁ccidental death policy.鈥�
Currie will continue Tuesday morning.
