TORONTO -- In emotional testimony, Ashleigh Pechaluk described how she endured months of pressure from her lover to kill the woman's abusive boyfriend.

But at the last moment, Pechaluk rejected Nicola "Nicky" Puddicombe's plan to have her murder Dennis Hoy as he lay in her bed, she told the jury yesterday.

"She asked me if I was ready and I said, 'No, I can't do it. I can never do it,' and she got upset and said, 'What?' " Pechaluk recalled, testifying at her own first-degree murder trial for the Oct. 27, 2006, slaying of Hoy, 36, a GO Transit officer.

"Nicky said, 'Fine,' and walked down the hall and said nothing."

A "relieved" Pechaluk smoked a marijuana cigarette and fell asleep in her room. Two hours later, Puddicombe awoke her "groggy" lover, saying Dennis was dead, court heard.

He had been bludgeoned with an axe, which was lying on his body. Both women woke their roommate, Patrick Knowles, and phoned 911 from his room.

The 24-year-old Pechaluk, who has spent the last 30 months in jail, has pleaded not guilty. Her former lover, Puddicombe, 36, who was charged in May 2007, will go on trial after Pechaluk's trial.

Pechaluk said Puddicombe -- her lover for 13 months -- was frustrated with Hoy controlling her life and spoiling the women's relationship.

HELLS ANGELS

She believed that Hoy was a high-ranking member of the Hells Angels who arranged for people to be killed and also had police connections through the OPP.

The day before Hoy's death, Puddicombe left a Valentine's Day card for Pechaluk. But Pechaluk said the card carried a sinister message that "we couldn't have a life unless he was gone."

The Crown alleges Pechaluk carried out the premeditated killing so that the two lesbians could marry.

Pechaluk said she revealed the intimate details of Puddicombe's murderous plot to her confidantes at Loblaws as late as the day before.

But Pechaluk, a slender 99-pound, 5-foot-3 woman, said she never intended to kill Hoy. She couldn't eat or sleep for days before the homicide and tried to unburden herself by talking to her friends at work.

"I couldn't hold this stuff inside. I needed to get it out," said Pechaluk of her Oct. 25, 2006, chat with Keisha Brooks. "The last thing I told her was: 'Forget about it. Nothing is going to happen.' "

Pechaluk also said she never knew that Puddicombe was the beneficiary of Hoy's $238,000 life insurance policy and his $20,000 pension benefit. Puddicombe attempted to cash in Hoy's insurance four days later, court heard.

The trial resumes today.