RCMP probed alleged truck break-in at home close to Stanley farm before Colten Boushie's death
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A police officer in Biggar, Sask., investigated a complaint about people in a grey SUV trying to break into a truck close to Gerald Stanley’s farm on the same day Colten Boushie was fatally shot on Stanley’s farm.
RCMP Const. Andrew Park went to the Fouhy family farm, located about 20 kilometres northeast of Stanley’s farm near Biggar, at about 9 p.m. on Aug. 9, 2016, he told jurors at Stanley’s trial Wednesday morning in the Court of Queen’s Bench in Battleford, Sask.
Stanley is accused of second-degree murder in the death of Boushie. The 22-year-old was shot on Stanley’s farm in the early evening of Aug. 9.
Park said he found broken pieces of a firearm stock near a red Dodge pickup truck that belonged to the Fouhys.
Woman found near farm ‘screaming hysterically’
Park had been at the Stanley farm before going to the Fouhy property.
He said he helped arrest two women: Kiora Wuttunee, who was “screaming hysterically,” and Belinda Jackson, who the officer said reeked of alcohol and was calm.
The women were already handcuffed on a road about 200 metres from the Stanley farm when Park arrived.
Stanley’s son to testify
Gerald Stanley’s son Sheldon is now testifying.
Stanley, 56, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder.
- Follow Day 2 of the trial testimonies via reporters Charles Hamilton‘s and Jason Warick‘s tweets after here or at the bottom of this story. On mobile? Click here.
According to a brief and thinly sketched overview from Crown prosecutor Bill Burge, Stanley and his son Sheldon Stanley were building a fence on their Biggar-area cattle farm on Aug. 9, 2016, when a grey SUV noisily rambled onto the property.
Stanley’s fate lies with 12 jurors. On Wednesday, his son, Sheldon Stanley, is scheduled to talk about what happened on the day of Boushie’s 2016 death. (Cloudesley Rook-Hobbs )
Burge said Boushie was in the Ford Escape when he was shot, while two women were in the back seat and two other men had fled from the SUV on foot.
Son heard 3 shots
Sheldon Stanley heard two gunshots when he entered the farmhouse to fetch his truck keys and another shot when exiting the home, Burge told jurors Tuesday.
Stanley saw his father standing by the driver’s side door with a gun in his hand after the third shot, and Boushie slumped toward the steering wheel, Burge said.
RCMP under fire
On Tuesday, defence lawyer Scott Spencer castigated the first two witnesses in the Crown’s case — both RCMP officers involved in the investigation — for their handling and analysis of evidence.
The first witness, Cpl. Terry Heroux, said he did not order a comprehensive blood splatter analysis of the blood found in the SUV.
Heroux also said he did not know where the SUV ended up after it was towed away from the RCMP’s exam bay. Spencer said that stripped him of his ability to order an independent analysis of the car.
While two bullet casings matching a gun registered to Stanley were found on the yard, the bullet that killed Boushie was not recovered from the scene, Heroux said.
Followup witness Sgt. Jennifer Barnes, a blood splatter expert, said she did not visit the scene and only examined photos of the blood splatter inside the car several months after the shooting.
Stanley and his son were building a fence on the family farm property before Boushie was shot. (CBC)
She said blood spatter on a loaded rifle barrel — found by the RCMP outside the car beside Boushie’s body — suggests the rifle may have been inside the car, by the driver’s side foot area, at the time the gun that killed Boushie went off.
With eight Crown witnesses yet to testify, and Spencer still to present his opening argument and witnesses, the trial is expected to last until Feb. 15.
Sgt. Jennifer Barnes of the RCMP explains blood splatter patterns to jurors on Tuesday, the first day of testimony. (Cloudesley Rook-Hobbs)
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