For more than two weeks, Ashleigh Pechaluk has been painted by all as the actual killer who caved in the head of her female lover’s boyfriend with the blunt end of an axe more than 19 years ago.

But now that the jury has retired to decide whether convicted killer Nicola Puddicombe, her former girlfriend and co-accused, should be able to apply early for parole from her life sentence, Pechaluk is speaking out.

She was acquitted by a jury in 2009, unlike Puddicombe, because she says she is innocent of the murder of Dennis Hoy.

“She testified for over five days at her trial. Her story was vigorously tested and the jury accepted it,” wrote her lawyer Peter Zaduk in a statement released on her behalf.

“She testified further as a Crown witness at the Puddicombe trial in late 2009 and mainta

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