A South Carolina man stood up on Wednesday to admit that he would kill a woman inside the house in 2021 to save a child. Ju-dean convicted him of murder on Thursday.
Zachary Hughes, 32, testified in court that he would kill Christina Purcell. According to wyff4. Pulcel was found dead from stabbing at Greer’s home with more than 30 stab wounds, including the carotid artery and jugular vein. It has been reported. Ju judges found Hughes guilty of murdering Purcell after a temporary deliberation.
Hughes was delinquent during his testimony after violating Judge Patrick Phant’s order that barred references to the sexual abuse of John Mello’s daughter that he shared with Parcell or child pornography during trial. Hughes said he first met Mello and his daughter in Greenville, South Carolina in 2020. Melo and Palsel are the parents of their daughter, who were eight years old at the time.
Hughes told the court that he was worried about the girl’s safety in October 2020 and after visiting Melo, Italy around May 2021, he also worried about her daughter’s happiness.
“Since the end of June, I’ve been believing [the child] I was completely at risk for every moment in her life, that she was living with her mother, and that no other thing I tried to save her was working,” Hughes testified. (Related: The man walks to the Baltimore Police Station and confesses to a cold case of a double murder 10 years ago)
Kanebreak Murder suspect admits to killing a woman, explains his motivation | Click on the image to read the full story https://t.co/hprpeitcjq
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Lawyer Walt Wilkins tried to prove the prosecution’s theory that Hughes wanted to help his friend Mello win the custody battle with Purcell, Fox Carolina reported.
“John Mello had a custody issue and the only way to resolve it was murder,” Wilkins told the ju judge in his final discussion.
The defendant allegedly filed an affidavit and contacted the Department of Human Services prior to Palsel’s death, WYFF4 reported. A few days before the woman was killed, Hughes was offered a new job requesting him to leave the country.
“I had gotten this offer to go on this cruise ship. I would have left the country for a long time. Essentially, it wasn’t now,” he testified.
He told the court that he had initially planned to kill the woman with a gun, but instead decided to use a knife he had quietly bought. He said he wanted to make sure Purcell was alone because he didn’t want anyone else.
Hughes testified that on October 13, 2021 he showed up at his residence with a rose gift wrapping box and said he had delivered for her sister. He told the court he had a gun, knife, gloves and a light paint gun that he had unloaded in his hand.
Hughes testified that Pulcel painted a firearm when he realized he was home alone, and ordered her where she said she fought for her life.
“I just kept hitting her and attacking her until I finally fell to the floor, he said.
According to Fox Carolina, Hughes was found guilty of seven counts including murder, violent crime, first-degree robbery, second-degree harassment and possession of a weapon amidst the second-degree harassment.
