Pynn-Butler trial: DNA links Pynn to crime scene

For the first time since the start of Philip Pynn and Lyndon Butler's second-degree murder trial, jurors have been shown evidence that tied Pynn to the property where Nick Winsor was shot to death on July 9, 2011. 

Thomas Suzanski, a DNA expert with the RCMP, testified at Supreme Court in St. John's Thursday. 

A cigarette that was seized from the driveway of 271 Portugal Cove Rd., where Winsor was killed, was one of many samples sent to an RCMP labratory in Ottawa for testing. 

Suzanski told the court that the cigarette contained DNA from two people. The major contributor to the DNA on the cigarette was sent through a database full of DNA samples. Suzanki said the DNA on the cigarette matched with DNA from Philip Pynn. 

The estimated probability that the DNA came from someone other than Pynn was one in one billion. 

The other DNA contained in the filter of the cigarette was too minor to be tested. 

Mark Gruchy, who represents Pynn, cross-examined Suzanski, "How long can DNA persist in the environment."

"If it was raining, the DNA could have washed away," Suzanki said. 

There was heavy rain and wind the night that Winsor was killed. Gruchy suggested that the other strand of DNA on the cigarette could have been stronger, but had washed away.

Suzanki would not speculate.

"All I know is that it was raining and we got DNA off that cigarette."

While Butler's shoes and floor mat from his car had blood visibly on it, no DNA matches were made with samples from Winsor and homeowner Tom "Billy" Power.

Victim's mother testifies

Donna Pardy, Winsor's mother, took the stand Thursday to testify about a phone call she received the day after her son was killed. 

An emotional Pardy wept on the stand, as she recounted a call she said had come from her son's childhood friend, Philip Pynn. 

"He said there was an accident and that he was sorry," Pardy said. At the time the call came in, Pardy did not know Winsor, 20, was dead.

She testified that she asked repeatedly what had happened to Winsor, but there was static on the line, and she could not hear what Pynn had said. 

He said there was an accident and that he was sorry- Donna Pardy

Frantic 911 call

Meanwhile, the recording of a 911 call with one of the homeowner's Barbara Reddigan and her daughter Megan was played for jurors Thursday afternoon.

"I think there was gun shots," Megan Reddigan told the operator. 

Barbara Reddigan took the phone from her daughter during the call. 

"These guys came and knocked on the door," Reddigan said hysterically. "There was this big racket in the garage and there was like these and they took off in the car." 

"I'm just very concerned."

HMP surveillance video

On June 29, 2011, just two weeks prior to Nick Winsor's death, he was released from custody at Her Majesty's Penitentiary in St. John's.

The video above shows a white limo pull up outside HMP.

Pynn exits the limo and meets Winsor at the front door of the prison. The two are seen leaving in the limo. 

On the same day, the limo was spotted outside Sobeys on Elizabeth Avenue. A jewelry store is also in the Howley Estates building with the grocery store. 

The Crown alleged that Pynn and Winsor went to a jeweller the day Winsor was released from prison and inquired about a gold chain owned by Billy Power. 

Pynn and Butler are being tried for the second-degree murder of Winsor and attempting to rob and kill Power.