Witnesses describe seeing Dennis Oland pick up mystery object at wharf

Dennis Oland was seen picking something up off the ground at Renforth Wharf in Rothesay and putting the item in a reusable grocery bag on the night Saint John police believe his father was killed.

Barbara Murray and Douglas LeBlanc were sitting in a parked minivan at the wharf on July 6, 2011 when they saw Oland on the wharf. That's according to an agreed statement of facts, read into evidence at his second-degree murder trial on Thursday.

Murray and LeBlanc did not see him throw anything away, or leave anything there, the courtroom heard.

Police subsequently searched the area for a possible weapon and Richard Oland's missing iPhone, but neither was ever found.

It's not yet clear what the accused picked up, but he admits it was him the couple saw "walking briskly" that night.

That admission means Murray and LeBlanc won't have to testify at the trial, which should help shorten the duration, Justice John Walsh has said.

The trial, which started on Sept 16, is currently scheduled to run until Dec. 18, making it one of the longest criminal trials in New Brunswick history.

It will not be sitting on Friday, but will resume on Monday at 9:30 a.m. at the Saint John Law Courts building.

Sat down sideways at end of wharf

Richard Oland's bludgeoned body was discovered lying face down in a pool of blood in his investment firm office on July 7, 2011.

The 69-year-old prominent businessman had suffered 45 sharp and blunt force injuries to his head, neck and hands.

Dennis Oland, 47, who was the last known person to see his father alive during a meeting at his uptown Saint John office the night before, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder.

Murray and LeBlanc didn't know it was the accused they saw at the wharf that night.

Murray described seeing a Caucasian man, about five-foot-eight to five-foot-nine, 160 to 165 pounds, with dark hair and a dark complexion, sometime between 5:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.

He was "dressed very nice," wearing a dark green sports jacket and tan or olive slacks, and carrying a green and yellow reusable Sobeys bag with a kiwi on it, she said.

He opened the bag and took something red out, possibly a bag. He wrapped whatever he had picked up in the red thing and put it right back in the bag.- Barbara Murray

The man walked past their vehicle toward the wharf, and when he got near the wharf, he bent down and picked something up.

"She has no idea what he picked up," the court document states.

The man looked over toward the lighthouse and playground, then walked to the end of the wharf, where he sat down "sort of sideways, facing toward Rothesay."

"He opened the bag and took something red out, possibly a bag. He wrapped whatever he had picked up in the red thing and put it right back in the bag."

Then he walked "very briskly" past them again and Murray saw a "little silver car" in her rear view mirror drive away.

Looked like 'small parcel'

LeBlanc gave a similar account of the events that night. He said they were there "after supper" and there weren't many people around, just "the odd person here and there."

LeBlanc noticed a Caucasian, about five-foot-seven, with light hair, wearing a lighter sports coat, possibly beige pants and black shoes.

The man walked to the wharf, carrying a "typical multi-coloured Sobeys shopping bag with a reddish tint" in his right hand, then stopped and picked something up.

"Mr. LeBlanc thought it looked as if it was a small parcel of some kind, round," according to the court document.

"Mr. LeBlanc thought it looked wrapped in red or was red," it states.

The man walked to the end of the wharf carrying what he had picked up, sat sideways on the bumper at the end of the wharf, facing toward Rothesay.

He looked at the object, put it in the Sobeys bag, then got up and walked "quite swiftly" back to where he had come from, said LeBlanc, adding he lost sight of him after that.

Oland, who drives a silver Volkswagen Golf, told police he had stopped at the wharf to see if his children were swimming there.