Amber Kirwan case: Chris Falconer asked me to lie, says ex-lover

A woman who was once in a "friends with benefits" relationship with the man accused of killing Amber Kirwan, said he asked her to lie to police about his whereabouts the night the New Glasgow teen disappeared. 

Christopher Alexander Falconer, 31, is charged with first-degree murder in the New Glasgow teenager's death. He has pleaded not guilty and his case is being heard before 13 jury members in the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia in Pictou.

Kirwan disappeared in October 2011. Her remains were found a month later in a shallow grave.

Crown witness Jerricka Ebrahim told the court she met Falconer the summer before Amber Kirwan disappeared.

Falconer stared straight ahead as Ebrahim testified Wednesday.

The two communicated through either text or Facebook.

Ebrahim said on the evening of Oct. 8, 2011 — when Kirwan disappeared — Falconer drove her children to the babysitter's house while she planned to go out for a few drinks.

The court was read text messages between Ebrahim and Falconer that night. At around 8 p.m., she asked Falconer if he wanted to have sex. He responded that he was "a little down tonight."

He asked her if she wanted to watch a movie instead.

Ebrahim testified that at around 9:30 p.m. that same night, Falconer came to her home. She said he had a couple of shots and stayed for no more than an hour.

She said she then went to the bar, without Falconer. When Ebrahim got home she texted him to come over. When Falconer didn't come, she began to get mad and texted him to come and get his stuff, court heard.

Ebrahim said Falconer responded he'd be over in a bit. At 5:05 a.m. on Oct. 9, he texted her to say, "Sorry to make you wait. Something came up. I'm at dad's now."

She asked him if he was coming over and he said, "Not for a bit." Ebrahim says she didn't see Falconer until supper time on Oct. 9, 2011.

“What it does is indicates he’s near her apartment in downtown New Glasgow about an hour before Amber disappears and in the morning he’s in the Heathbell area by his own admission in the text messages,” said Crown attorney Patrick Young

Kirwan's body was discovered about a month later, in November 2011.

Ebrahim said she found out about Kirwan's body being found when a friend texted her. She was "home with Chris" at the time.

Ebrahim told Falconer about the body being found. She testified he grabbed his stuff and said he "had to go do something." That was at lunch time. He didn't tell her where he was going, she told the court.

She testified she thought it was strange at the time, since Falconer was supposed to stay and hang out.

Ebrahim said Falconer was supposed to take her to pick up her kids at lunch time. He didn't come back until supper time.

She said she told Falconer about police questioning her while they were hanging out in Heathbell together.

Ebrahim said Falconer asked her to lie for him if cops came around again, he did not say why.

She said she assumed it had something to do with his parole.

Falconer’s lawyer spent the afternoon grilling Ebrahim about her foggy memory around the time Kirwan disappeared.

Ebrahim said Falconer didn’t make it clear what dates he wanted her to lie about.

“When you have a witness who is changing their evidence or giving different answers at different times for whatever reason, the jury has to consider whether that has an impact on their overall credibility in relation to key evidence,” said Defence attorney Mike Taylor.

Toxicologist testifies

The next witness, Deno Miller, didn't show on Wednesday. He's also a former friend of Falconer's.

The Crown said they hope he'll be in court to testify on Thursday, followed by a DNA expert.

Toxicologist Lori Campbell spent the last part of the day Tuesday on the stand.

She told the court Kirwan had at least ten times the therapeutic amount of codeine in her body, which she said was a very high level.

On Wednesday, Campbell testified on cross examination by the defence that it is impossible to know the amount of drugs in Amber Kirwan's system at time of her death.