MARTIN: Husband’s comments didn’t warrant attempted murder plot

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Audra Lynne Symbalisty must’ve thought she was being ever so clever.

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On the day of her 18th wedding anniversary she posted a loving Facebook note to her husband, Donald.

“18 years. So hard to believe. Happy anniversary hon. Can’t wait for our beautiful supper date Whoot whoot,” she posted on Feb. 24, 2024.

It was nothing out of the ordinary when it comes to Facebook postings.

People regularly note important dates, birthdays, anniversaries and such to share celebrations with loved ones on the social media app.

Symbalisty’s Facebook friends suitably responded with “happy anniversary” greetings.

It’s not clear, however, exactly when on that day Symbalisty posted her message to Donald.

Was it before, or after she met with a purported hitman at a Shell gas station in her hometown of Carstairs.

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There she told the would-be assassin, who was actually an undercover RCMP officer, she had a problem.

“She wanted the ‘problem’ to not return,” Crown prosecutor Elaine Ng told a Calgary court last week, after Symbalisty, 60, pleaded guilty to a charge of counselling the undercover cop to commit murder.

Reading from a statement of agreed facts signed by Symbalisty, the prosecutor explained the offender made it clear she didn’t just want Donald roughed up.

“She used the euphemism of ’til death do us part’ to confirm she wanted the victim dead,” Ng said.

Defence counsel Allan Fay likened it to Hollywood fiction, the type of story you’d watch in a TV movie.

But for Symbalisty it was real.

She wanted Donald Symbalisty, her “hon” of 18 years, to be killed.

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The unhappy wife provided her husband’s name, occupation and the travel routes he generally took as a long-haul trucker and offered the “hitman” $5,000 to end his life.

The following day, presumably after she and her husband had their beautiful supper date, she gave the officer a deposit of $1,000 cash, as well as a photograph of the target and pictures of his semi-truck and trailer.

“Symbalisty provided these photographs to (the undercover officer) so he would know with certainty who to kill,” Ng said.

“She told (the officer) divorce was not an option and insisted to (him) that she wanted the victim’s death to look accidental or self-inflicted, and further that she wanted the death to be a ‘cold case’ so the murder would not be traced back to her.”

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Fay told court his client had been divorced multiple times.

She clearly didn’t want to go through that tedious legal process again.

Fortunately for Donald Symbalisty, her alternative plan didn’t come to fruition.

Over several weeks earlier in 2024, the wife had multiple conversations with an acquaintance about her husband.

What exactly was said wasn’t divulged in court, but it was enough to concern the acquaintance, who went to the Didsbury RCMP on Feb. 12, 2024, which triggered the undercover operation in which Symbalisty was introduced to the would-be contract killer.

Despite her loving Facebook post, things were obviously not going well in the marriage.

Symbalisty’s relationship with her husband soured following the death of her adult daughter in the spring of 2022, Ng said. The prosecutor explained Donald made several cruel comments about the deceased, who had a substance abuse problem.

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Perhaps the comments were ill-advised, but certainly not enough to have someone killed.

But court also heard of a potential ulterior, or second motive, for Symbalisty to want her husband out of her life for good.

In 2021, when presumably their relationship was better, the victim purchased a life-insurance policy under which Symbalisty stood to gain a death benefit of approximately $475,000 in the event of his death.

Deducting the $5,000 for the hit, that’s still a tidy payday.

Symbalisty, who had already spent more than a year behind bars, was handed the equivalent of a five-year term and has about 41 months left to serve.

KMartin@postmedia.com

X: @KMartinCourts

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