Pynn-Butler trial: Crown witness surprised by perjury investigation

If Barbara Reddigan had any idea her boyfriend Tom "Billy" Power was being investigated for perjury, she didn't show it when she took the stand at Supreme Court Tuesday morning. 

Reddigan is a Crown witness in the second-degree murder trial for Philip Pynn and Lyndon Butler.

It is alleged that Pynn, Butler, and another man — Nick Winsor — went to Reddigan and Power's house on July 9, 2011 to rob jewellery. Winsor, 20, was shot and killed in their garage on Portugal Cove Road that night, in what police called a botched robbery. 

Pynn and Butler are also accused of attempting to kill Power. But it was Power that came under fire by the defence during Reddigan's testimony. 

Butler's lawyer Jeff Brace asked Reddigan if she was aware that just weeks ago Power was questioned by the police about what was contained in two big bags that left the house the night Winsor was killed. 

"Oh my God ... that's ridiculous," Reddigan said. 

Pynn's lawyer Mark Gruchy asked again, "So, you didn't know anything about drugs going out before today," Gruchy asked. "No," Reddigan said. 

Surveillance video mounted on the house captured a woman bringing two big bags out of the house and leaving in a car just minutes after Winsor was shot and moments before the police arrive at 271 Portugal Cove Road. 

Reddigan testified that she had instructed her daughter Megan to grab her belongings and leave because she feared for her daughter's safety. 

She was adamant that she did not know Power was being investigated by police for allegedly putting drugs in her daughter's bags the night of the murder. 

"So, you didn't know about the drugs in the bags,"Gruchy asked. "No. I'm not happy about it," Reddigan said. 

The defence pointed out the multiple surveillance cameras and door stops installed at Power and Reddigan's home. Gruchy suggested that Reddigan knew something was going to happen the night Winsor was murdered. 

"I did not know there was going to be any trouble whatsoever," Reddigan responded. 

Face tattoo

While Reddigan said she couldn't identify the men in her driveway that night, she said she could pick out who knocked on her rear door minutes before the shooting.

During her testimony on Monday, Reddigan told the court a knock came to her door the night of July 9, 2011.

She testified seeing a unknown man with a tattoo on the right side of his face outside her door.

"I jumped up. I didn't know this guy," Reddigan said. 

After the man knocked a second time, Reddigan said Power, her boyfriend, came to the door. "I told him not to answer it. He pushed me out of the way, sort of thing, and he answered it."

Frightened, Reddigan ran to her bedroom, as Power grabbed a set of keys and went out the door. 

On Tuesday, Reddigan pointed to Philip Pynn in the courtroom and said he was the strange visitor who came to her house around 10:30 p.m.

Heard a bang

A short time later, after Power left with the man at the door, Reddigan said she heard a lot of noise and a bang that she thought was a light shattering. 

I asked them what they did to Billy- Barbara Reddigan

She said she instructed her daughter to call 911, and went outside herself to look for Power. That's when Reddigan said she saw two men in her driveway.

"I asked them what they did to Billy," Reddigan said. 

"I figured he [Billy] was in the garage dead or badly hurt." 

Grim discovery

She told the jury she made the gruesome discovery after she got a flashlight and went inside the garage.

"I was hysterical because I thought it was Billy dead on the garage floor," Reddigan said. "I think the blood is what scared me." 

Reddigan eventually saw Power inside her house, bleeding. 

Reddigan said she instructed her daughter to collect her things and leave the house. "I just wanted her out of there. Away from there." 

Philip Pynn and Lyndon Butler are accused of second-degree murder and attempted murder.