Pynn-Butler trial: Not sure how Winsor was shot, Billy Power tells jury
Witness says he was struggling to get control of weapon just before fatal shot was fired
The owner of a home on Portugal Cove Road that was a crime scene in 2011 described a violent attack that happened the night Nick Winsor was shot and killed.
Tom "Billy" Power, the Crown's main witness in its case against Philip Pynn and Lyndon Butler, returned to the witness stand for the third day in a row Thursday in St. John's.
The Crown has told the jury that Pynn, Butler and Winsor went to rob Power on the night of July 9, 2011.
Before the night was over, Winsor, 20, died in Power's garage with a shotgun wound to the neck.
Power, 40, told the jury he was fighting for his life before the gun went off. He said Butler gave him strong blows to the back of his head with a pipe.
At the same time, Power said, he was struggling to take control of the shotgun that he said Pynn was holding.
"Each time I got hit, it [the gun] went lower," Power told the jury.
Power said at one point during the altercation, he had one hand on the gun, trying to wrestle it away from Pynn, while attempting to reach the door handle in his garage to escape.
In previous statements, Power said that Butler was to his right, that Pynn was to his left, and that Winsor was situated in front of him.
I didn't want some young fella dying in my garage.- Tom "Billy" Power
At the preliminary inquiry, Power testified that Winsor fell on the shotgun.
But Thursday morning, Power admitted he did not know what Winsor was doing during the fleeting moments before the gun went off.
"I wasn't 100 per cent sure what [Winsor] was doing," Power said. "I couldn't tell what way he got hit."
"You have dramatically changed the position of Mr. Winsor when he was in the garage," said lawyer Mark Gruchy, who represents Pynn.
"You're under a lot of stress to keep everything in sequence," Power explained.
Power reiterated several times that his vision was fading because he was being hit over the head by "Mr. Butler's pipe."
According to Power, he did not know that the single shot had killed Winsor until he was being treated at the Health Sciences Centre hours later.
"I knew he was injured and that there was blood coming from him. I didn't know he was dead," Power said.
"I didn't want some young fella dying in my garage."
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