Daughter, police officers testify at murder trial of alleged cleaver killer

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - Graphic police body-camera video and emotional testimony from the alleged killer’s daughter-- that’s what made up most of day two of Aita Gurung’s trial. He’s accused of first-degree murder for allegedly killing his wife with a meat cleaver in Burlington.

Monday, the state continued to make its case that Gurung was a domestic abuser who drank too much and a man who knew what he was doing almost five years ago to the day in 2017.

The testimony started with Gurung’s daughter. WCAX News is not identifying her because she is a minor.

Prosecutor Rose Kennedy: Have you seen your birth dad since you moved?

Aita Gurung’s daughter: No.

She said she and her father didn’t have much of a relationship and she saw her parents get into arguments that sometimes got physical.

“I saw like them fighting because of beer, sometimes,” she testified.

Neither the prosecution nor the defense questioned the young girl about the alleged murder, which happened when she was at school.

A Burlington police officer who was one of the first on the scene described seeing Gurung’s wife.

“Yogiswari was on the ground, bleeding heavily and moaning. So she was still alive when I arrived,” Burlington Police Cpl. Jennifer Cousins said.

Prosecutors also showed graphic body-camera video from officers to the jury.

Another officer who was at the scene said Gurung was aware and responsive to commands.

“He appeared to be alert. He was looking, as soon as we showed up, myself, Cpl. Cousins, we were first on scene, as soon as we approached he looked straight at us. I could see him see me as I was giving him commands,” said Sgt. Gregory Short, a former Burlington police officer.

While all of the evidence so far points to Gurung as the killer, Gurung’s state of mind at the time could be the key to prosecutors winning a conviction.

Defense lawyers plan to rely on expert psychiatric testimony to show that Gurung was insane at the time and can’t be held accountable for the crime.

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