The trial of a 55-year-old Kelowna man, accused of killing his roommate in June 2015 in the house they shared on Bernard Avenue, is underway at the Kelowna courthouse.
Daniel Ruff is accused of killing 51-year-old Warren Welters by striking him four times on the head with a hammer on June 14, 2015, while Welters lay sleeping in his room in the house.
First responders found Welters’s in a pool of his own blood after Ruff called 911 to report he had discovered his dead roommate.
In his opening statement on Monday, Crown counsel Colin Forsyth said the two men shared a suite in the house but did not get along.
On the day of the death, there was a party at the house and several guests were there. There was an altercation between the two men and Welters, who was described as being heavily intoxicated, went to his room to sleep it off.
Forsyth said Ruff attempted to clean the hammer the prosecution believes was the weapon used to kill Welters and he also changed out of a blood-splattered shirt.
A total of 30 witnesses are expected to be called for the prosecution and the trial is expected to last two weeks.
On Tuesday, the first of those witnesses was called to testify. RCMP forensic identification officer Cpl. Craig Vaneveri said he videoed the crime scene prior to a blood pattern analyst arriving from the Lower Mainland to examine the scene.
The trial, before a seven-woman, five-man jury, continues.