HONOLULU (Court TV) — A doctor standing trial on charges he tried to kill his wife maintained he acted in self-defense as he took the stand on Wednesday.

Gerhardt Konig testifies

Gerhardt Konig testifies on April 1, 2026. (Court TV)

Gerhardt Konig, 47, is charged with second-degree attempted murder after an incident at the Pali Lookout on March 24, 2025. He has pleaded not guilty and has watched as both the alleged victim, Arielle Konig, and his own son, Emile Konig, took the stand to testify against him.

On Wednesday, as the defense began its case, Gerhardt Konig took the witness stand and walked the jury through his past, telling them he was born in South Africa before moving to the United States with his parents when he was 14.

Gerhardt Konig testified that he met Arielle Konig in 2016 on the dating website eHarmony after divorcing from his first wife of 15 years. After marrying Arielle Konig in 2018, the family moved in 2023 to Maui, where Gerhardt Konig worked as an anesthesiologist at a hospital within walking distance from home.

“It was amazing,” the defendant said. “The move was a little stressful at first getting here, but once we were here and settled in, it was our dream life.”

Arielle Konig worked remotely for a company based in Washington state. Gerhardt said he became suspicious of her behavior after she traveled on a quick business trip in 2024 and failed to communicate with him much. When she returned, Gerhardt Konig said, he noticed his wife was speaking to one colleague, Jeff Miller, more often. “I just overheard her talking to him on the phone from the other room and it just seemed that they had a very familiar tone,” Gerhardt Konig testified. “She was constantly on her phone… and she would hide the screen from me.”

Photo of konig

A photo shows Gerhardt Konig’s apparent injuries after the March 24, 2025, incident. (Defense Exhibit)

Gerhardt Konig admitted that he went into his wife’s phone and found that she had been exchanging messages with Miller using WhatsApp, an encrypted messaging system. “Wherever [Miller] was, he’d be texting her ‘good morning,’” Gerhardt Konig testified. “But it wasn’t just like a ‘good morning’ text. It was, like, five or six texts.” The texts would continue throughout the day. “I’m on call for the weekend, and she’s at home decorating and hanging out with the kids and texting him all day.”

“I was devastated,” Gerhardt Konig said of discovering the messages. Arielle Konig conceded that she’d had an emotional affair when she testified last week. The couple agreed to work on their marriage, and the defendant said that Arielle Konig agreed to find a new job and step back from working with Miller.

On March 24, 2025, the couple was in Oahu celebrating Arielle Konig’s birthday and went to the Pali Lookout. Although Arielle Konig testified that her husband attacked her, tried to push her off the cliff and then beat her with a rock, Gerhardt Konig testified it was the opposite that happened.

Gerhardt Konig testified that the couple got into a fight because Arielle Konig announced her plans to continue working on a project with Miller and her intent to go on a business trip with him. Gerhardt Konig said he “stomped off” for five to 10 minutes and then returned to find an “extremely apologetic” Arielle Konig.

“I just remember kind of standing at the edge there and looking over the edge and just kind of still in thought about everything that had just happened and what’s going on. And then I felt a shove, and I was almost pushed over the edge,” Gerhardt Konig testified. Then, he said, she began yelling for help. “She keeps yelling and she kind of grabs my wrists and throws herself on the ground and pulls me down with her.”

Arielle Konig shows scar on head

Arielle Konig shows the jury a scar beneath her hair while testifying. (Court TV)

Gerhardt Konig said he fought to get free, as Arielle Konig continued to grab and attack him, even squeezing his testicles. “I’m thrashing, and I get both hands free, and I’m trying to get her to let go of my testicles,” he said. “And then she hits me with a rock on the side of the face.”

The defendant said he was eventually able to grab the rock and struck his wife with it twice. Once she left the area, he said he was in distress. “I just felt hopeless at that point, in terms of everything. I felt horrified about what I did to her, that I caused this to her, that I had resorted to violence against my wife, the person who I loved the most in the world, and just kind of felt hopeless in terms of our relationship too.”

Gerhardt Konig admitted that he called his eldest son from the trail and threatened to take his own life, but credited the then-teenager with saving his life by convincing him not to jump. He denied trying to evade investigators on the trail that day, saying he spent the hours between the incident and his arrest mostly sitting and sleeping in the woods.

Gerhardt Konig will return to the witness stand on Thursday for cross-examination.