The man accused of murdering Tatjana Stefanski in British Columbia more than two years ago has denied pushing her into his vehicle on the morning she disappeared.

Vitali Stefanski is back on the witness stand for a second day at his B.C. Supreme Court jury trial in Kamloops, where he’s pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the killing of his ex-wife, who was found stabbed to death off a forestry road near Lumby, B.C., on April 14, 2024.

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He denies having pushed her into his car the day before, despite Crown lawyers playing a video of a police interview seven weeks later, in which Vitali Stefanski tells an officer he grabbed his ex-wife and pushed her to get her into the vehicle.

The court has heard that Tatjana Stefanski was stabbed in her chest seven times and suffered multiple “sharp-force injuries” to her arms and legs.

On his first day of testimony on Tuesday, Stefanski testified that his ex-wife stabbed herself with his knife while inside his car, flatly denying inflicting any injuries on her.

Stefanski had also contradicted police who earlier testified that he confessed to murdering his ex-wife when they encountered him on the forestry road, saying on Tuesday that he told an officer he thought she may have been dead but “was hoping” she was still alive.

He said that he and his ex-wife both entered his black Audi through the passenger door on the morning of April 13, 2024, after she approached him with a bloody nose.

Stefanski said they went looking for a hospital but she got quiet as they lost cell reception as he drove along Mable Lake Road.

He said that at some point he removed her body from the back seat but when he attempted to put her body back in the car, it “slipped” down the embankment.

Stefanski said he had approached a vehicle the next day, not initially realizing it was a police car, hoping they could help him call an ambulance. He said he then saw his car was being towed, so told the officer it was his.

Stefanski also testified that he took a knife out and put it on the ground in front of the officer before gesturing in the direction of where he left his ex-wife’s body.

“He asked me if she is dead and I said ‘I don’t know, I think so,’” he said on Tuesday.