As far as the police were concerned, accused killer Gurpreet Ronald sealed her own fate — or, at least, licked it.

In some remarkable detective work, Ottawa police investigating the Jan. 29, 2014, slaying of Jagtar Gill surreptitiously got a DNA sample from her husband’s mistress, Gurpreet Ronald, in an elaborate ruse that had the murder suspect filling out a contest entry form and licking its envelope with the hopes of winning.

The jury at their first-degree murder trial on Wednesday heard that blood found at Gill’s Barrhaven home, on the knives and latex gloves, matched Ronald’s DNA. Forensic tests have concluded that the chances it is someone else’s DNA are one in one quadrillion, the jury heard.

Gill, 43, was at home recovering from surgery when her attacker slit her throat, slashed her arms and bludgeoned her to death with a weightlifting bar. There was blood spatter throughout the home and signs of deadly struggle in the family room, where Gill’s 15-year-old daughter found her dead on the floor.

The teen made the awful discovery after a trip to Sobeys with her dad — Bhupinderpal Gill — for flowers and cake to celebrate her parents’ wedding anniversary.

Gill and Ronald are on trial for first-degree murder in what prosecutors have branded as a plot to get rid of the woman they despised.

The ruse to get Ronald’s DNA was authorized by a warrant, as was the use of hidden video cameras in the basement, where Gill was caught on tape twice looking at a bloodstained weightlifting bar before he concealed it in his jacket, only to later dump it outside.

In opening remarks, the Crown claimed that the two accused, both OC Transpo drivers, would do anything to be together — even if it meant killing Gill’s wife.

In the 28 days leading to Jagtar’s death, Gill and Ronald spoke on the phone more than 250 times for a total of 48 hours.

The jury was told that, on the day of the killing, Gill convinced his daughter to run errands with him, leaving Jagtar behind.

The daughter had stayed home from school to look after her mother and to study for an exam, while her two siblings went to class.

The Crown has told the jury that while Gill and his daughter were out shopping, Ronald paid a deadly visit to their home, slashing Jagtar’s neck and left wrist, then stabbed her repeatedly in the stomach and bashed her about the head with the weightlifting bar.

And when the husband got home, he started washing the bloody knives used to kill his wife, the jury heard. He also hid the bloodied weightlifting bar.

gdimmock@postmedia.com

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