Anne Norris has admitted to causing Marcel Reardon's death by hitting him repeatedly in the head with a hammer.
She admits to then placing his body under an outdoor stairwell at Harbour View Apartments on Brazil Street in St. John's.
She admits to taking the hammer - which she bought the previous day at Wal-Mart - and placing it in a backpack with some rope and a pair of jeans, and throwing it in St. John's Harbour.
She says she was too mentally ill at the time to be criminally responsible for her actions.
Norris' first-degree murder trial has just gotten underway in Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court in St. John's. In his opening address to the jury, Crown prosecutor Iain Hollett said the Crown and defence would be submitting an agreed statement of facts in the case. Norris will be pleading not criminally responsible, he said.
Norris, 30, is accused of murdering Reardon, 46, on May 9, 2016. She was a new resident of Harbour View Apartments at the time, having been released from the Waterford Hospital days earlier.
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Hollett told the court Norris, Reardon and two other people had been "hanging around" the downtown area the night of May 8, when Norris left and went to Wal-Mart on Topsail Road, where she purchased a hammer. She then went back downtown to meet the others.
Hollett said Norris and Reardon - who was heavily intoxicated - took a taxi to the apartment building. Hours later, Norris rejoined one of the other people downtown, bringing with her a backpack, which she threw in the harbour.
Hollett said in the week after Reardon's death, Norris returned to the Wal-Mart and attempted to buy scissors, a coat, and two more hammers.
"Some of the evidence, particularly the autopsy photos, may be disturbing to you, and I appreciate that," Hollett said, telling the jury it was important for them to see all the evidence.
He said he expects psychiatrists will be testifying about Norris' illness.
Norris' defence lawyers, Rosellen Sullivan and Jerome Kennedy, are expected to deliver their opening remarks to the jury shortly.
Twitter: @tara_bradbury
