A woman accused of torturing her husband told a Kamloops jury she had no way of escaping when she was forced to cut off his ear.

Jessica Valerie Jules allegedly held her husband against his will and tortured him, alongside her co-accused Devon Carl Jules.

After shifting testimony from Jessica’s husband, Brandon Hoodicoff, she has offered another version in which she desperately pleaded with Devon to spare lives of her family members.

“I said I’d do anything to keep Brandon and the kids alive,” Jessica said.

That’s when Devon — who is not related to Jessica — ordered her to cut off Hoodicoff’s ear and strike the first blow during a beating, she told a Kamloops jury, Feb. 19.

On April 17, 2024, Hoodicoff fled his Tk’emlups home and contacted police after multiple incidents of alleged torture. Kamloops RCMP arrested Devon and Jessica later that day.

Jessica told the jury Devon was a childhood friend and they reconnected in the weeks leading up to April 2024. During that time, they were drinking heavily and using drugs together at the home.

She said there were few issues until one day when she inspected Hoodicoff’s phone to find he was cheating on her.

“That’s when he got really upset and he pushed me,” Jessica said.

Hoodicoff became angry, pushed her and told Devon of an alleged plot to kill him. Hoodicoff said Jessica was part of the plot.

According to Jessica, Devon came to believe she wasn’t involved, but he no longer trusted Hoodicoff. She was afraid and felt she couldn’t leave, while Devon threatened to kill the couple and their three children, who were in their rooms.

Devon sat the couple down at knifepoint, telling them it was “time to play the hostage game,” she said.

“He brought up killing Brandon and the children because there’s no witnesses to be left,” she said.

She pleaded for him to spare them as Devon allegedly told Brandon he would have to dig five graves, one for each of them including their three children.

“I remember the five graves and that I needed to prove I’d do anything to keep my family alive,” Jessica said.

She said Devon ordered her to cut off Hoodicoff’s ear. Reluctantly, she did so but only carved off a portion.

Devon then cauterized the wound, she said.

“I couldn’t do it,” Jessica said. “Because I loved him.”

Hoodicoff was then beaten, but Devon told her to make the first strike.

The trial began earlier this month as Hoodicoff accused Devon of attempting to start a gang with the aim of selling drugs in the Kamloops area, while Jessica was made to torture him as part of an initiation into the gang.

He told the jury Jessica was made second-in-command, but there’s no evidence Devon had began selling any of the drugs they bought. Instead, they were all heavily using cocaine and drinking alcohol at the couples’ Tk’emlups home, where Devon was renting a room.

During cross-examination, Hoodicoff’s story shifted and he said Jessica was upset with him because of his infidelity in the marriage, later admitting he “let her do it.”

Jessica also testified she had cancer and wasn’t expecting to survive an upcoming surgery at the time of the alleged torture incidents. She said she wasn’t joining any gang at the time.

Crown prosecutors closed their case earlier this week and Jessica was the first witness called by the defence.