A man accused of kidnapping a New Brunswick woman last year and keeping her captive in his basement apartment for almost a month says they were planning to kill her husband.
Romeo Cormier testified Monday that he had a gun with him on Feb. 26, 2010 -- the night of the alleged abduction -- when he met the 55-year-old woman outside a Moncton mall.
The 63-year-old Cormier said he told her not to wear anything that could be identified by the police.
He told the jury they were planning to commit a criminal act.
"Her husband was to be deceased between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m.," Cormier told the Court of Queen's Bench.
Cormier said they drove to her home and parked a short distance away. He said he was nervous and was standing outside the husband's bedroom window.
He said the woman somehow cut her hand outside the house and that he decided they should leave because she was leaving evidence.
He said a car pulled into the driveway, so they left.
He said she was supposed to go home, but instead she told him, "I'm not going back there tonight."
He said she stayed the night at his house.
The defence asked if she was held there against her will.
"No, she was not," he replied.
Cormier said he first met the woman -- whose identity is protected by a publication ban -- when he was a courier and had to deliver a package to Newfoundland in 1993.
He has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping, forcible confinement, sexual assault, assault with a weapon, theft and uttering death threats.
