A "cowardly" woman, ensnared in a lesbian love triangle, was found guilty last night of the first-degree murder of her longtime boyfriend.
Nicky Puddicombe was stoic as the jury returned its verdict after its third day of deliberations while victim Dennis Hoy's parents, Norman and Anna, hugged each other.
Puddicome, a former Loblaws manager, was convicted of either orchestrating, encouraging or aiding her lesbian lover Ashleigh Pechaluk to kill Hoy on Oct. 27, 2006, as he slept in Puddicombe's Queensway bed.
The verdict could also mean the jury found Puddicombe herself killed Hoy by striking him six times in the head.
"You lulled him into a false sense of security by giving him a back rub so that he would fall asleep while he was murdered," said Justice Mary Lou Benotto before she sentenced the 36-year-old woman to life imprisonment with no chance of parole for 25 years for the death of Hoy, a GO Transit officer and her boyfriend of 11 years.
"This was a very cowardly act. This was a man you had a relationship with for many years and he had his whole life ahead of him," Benotto said.
The murder plot was hatched by Puddicombe who was engaged in a bizarre love triangle as she was involved with Pechaluk for 13 months while also maintaining her relationship with Hoy, 36.
Pechaluk, now 25, was acquitted of the first-degree murder of Hoy in June.
In his victim impact statement, Norman Hoy said in court, "From day one I knew that somebody killed Dennis and we have been suffering every minute and every day since. But I'd like to thank all the people who supported us."
After the acquittal, Hoy said he never complained but silently waited because he knew "this time, this trial I knew everything would go right.
"I have lost three years of my life and I miss the loss of my only son. It's like losing my own foot. That's how much I miss him," Hoy said.
"I have never cried in my life, but when I go home tonight, I will cry."
"We're happy with the outcome," Crown attorney Tom Lissaman said.
"We're pleased for the Hoys that Miss Puddicombe was held responsible for her role in this murder and we're very proud of the jury for applying the law and the evidence to reach the right verdict."
Lissaman and co-counsel Maureen Bellmore alleged twin motives for the two women.
* Pechaluk was madly in love with Puddicombe.
* Pechaluk wanted to eliminate Hoy -- whom she believed was abusive and cruel towards Puddicombe so that the two women could enjoy a relationship without his interference.
Puddicombe wanted her lesbian lover to kill Hoy, so that Puddicombe could collect Hoy's GO Transit pension benefits and life insurance policy, which was worth more than $250,000, court was told. She tried to cash it four days after Hoy was killed.
Pechaluk's trial never heard that she had confessed to the crime as that statement was ruled inadmissible because her Charter rights to counsel were violated.
Puddicombe's lawyer Richard Stern accused Pechaluk during the trial of being a master manipulator who worked alone to kill her lesbian lover's boyfriend. She denied it.
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