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Had former Ottawa realtor Chris Hoare really wanted to kill his wife on the morning of April 2, 2014, he would have used the hatchet from the garage or the butcher’s knife from the kitchen — anything more deadly than a Little League baseball bat, his lawyer said in closing arguments on Friday.

“A child’s bat can hardly be seen as an ideal weapon to beat somebody’s brains in,” defence lawyer Eric Granger told court. “There were other weapons more lethal.”

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He noted that the bat was “surprisingly lightweight” and told court that there was nothing to stop Hoare, 45, from taking more swings at his wife’s bloody and bruised head. “He chose to stop. He chose to not go further,” said Granger, who also noted that there was no evidence that the bat was damaged in the surprise attack.

“If Hoare intended to kill (Kirsten) Côté, wouldn’t he have kept swinging?”

Granger told court that the Crown failed to establish even a motive for the alleged murder attempt, arguing instead that Hoare had every reason not to kill her. She was his longtime wife and best friend, and because she stayed home to care for their five young children he could make a successful living as a real estate agent. There was no benefit for him to kill his wife, his lawyer said, arguing instead that he had everything to lose.