Accused testifies in his own defence at murder trial looking into beating death of his girlfriend

David Yates, on trial for the murder of his girlfriend Caitlin Jennings, took the stand in his own defence Wednesday. CTV’s Nick Paparella reports.

A St. Thomas courtroom heard about the complicated and turbulent relationship between a man and a woman, which ended tragically.

David Yates, 53, spent the day on the stand testifying in his own defence. He told the court how he met 22-year-old Caitlin Jennings in 2022. He described how they both shared a love of music, boating, and spending days at the beach.

At one point, he spoke about them having a family and living in a farmhouse.

However, that never came to be, because months after they met the relationship started to sour.

He recalled seeing troubling entries on her cellphone, saying, “I looked at the messages coming in and it was disgusting images, all kinds of horrible stuff.”

He went on, “The pictures were gross ... people that were engaging in online hookups.”

Yates testified about another incident during a day of boating and a year before the killing.

He said he was questioning how faithful Caitlin was being, “All the cheating and lying was starting over again.”

Yates said a number of confrontations would escalate and become physical, “There was a number of occasions she would get violent and hit ... getting her arm around my neck to full black out ... hitting and tackling me and being kicked.”

Asked by his lawyer Cassandra DeMelo if he was ever physical with Jennings, he responded, “When she was getting more violent ... I would get her away from me … that’s why I’m sitting here today.”

Yates said on different occasions he would video record the confrontations and they were shown in court.

He said at times police would get involved and at one point Caitlin was charged.

The relationship all came to a head when London police officers arrived to a home at 562 Kingsway Ave. in west London, Ont. on July 5 of 2023 and found Caitlin’s lifeless and beaten body on the floor.

Yates would quickly be arrested and charged with second degree murder.

When Caitlin’s body was discovered, it was found to have more than 200 wounds. A pathologist has testified that she died from multiple blunt force trauma injuries.

More testimony from Yates us expected on Thursday when the trial resumes.