Susan Clairmont: ‘I’m fighting for my life’: Accused killer Richard Taylor testifies in court for the first time

Testifying in his own defence, accused killer Richard Taylor admitted he would say anything to get himself off the hook.

Like on the night he was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder for setting the fire that burned his mother and stepfather alive.

Taylor, who was deep in debt at the time and keeping it a secret from everyone, now says he lied to the detective who questioned him.

Did your wife, Evangelia know you were in debt? He was asked that night by Det. Troy Ashbaugh.

Yeah, she's not happy," he responded in January 2019.

On Monday, at his homicide trial, Taylor admitted that was a lie. His wife Vange, as she is known, thought they had hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings, based in part on fake bank documents Taylor created.

I can't explain how I was feeling at the time," he told the jury of his lie to Ashbaugh, explaining that he was just driving home from his job as a Hamilton elementary school teacher - a regular day" - when he was pulled over by homicide detectives and arrested.

I'm fighting for my life," he told the court. I'm telling them stuff so they'll just let me go."

The Crown team officially closed its case against Taylor first thing in the morning and a packed courtroom had to wait only minutes for defence counsel Jennifer Penman to announce to Justice Toni Skarica that she was calling the accused.

Taylor, 46, sat in the witness box wearing a blue suit, white shirt and blue tie with a court security officer next to him.

Vange, along with other family members and friends, listened as Taylor wept and spoke of how wonderful his mom, Carla Rutherford, 64, and her second husband, Alan Rutherford, 63, were.

A powerful fire was deliberately set at the foot of their bed while they slept in their Dundas home on July 9, 2018.

Carla never made it out of the house alive. Alan made it to a neighbour's porch. With his dying words he tried to tell several people who the killer was.

Rich did it, he said. For the money.

More to come ...

Susan Clairmont is a justice columnist at The Spectator. sclairmont@thespec.com