Crown finishes cross-examination of teen accused of killing Chelsie Probert
'I did not kill Ms. Probert, that is not true,' teen tells prosecutor
After a day and a half of relentless questioning in Nova Scotia youth court, the Crown has finished cross-examining the teen accused of killing Chelsie Probert.
As questioning wound down on Tuesday, the teen answered again and again "No sir, that's not true" as Crown prosecutor Steve Degen advanced a theory of what happened the night of June 6, 2017, when Probert was killed.
Degen suggested in his closing questions that the teen had tried twice that night to rob people walking along the path in north-end Dartmouth where Probert was attacked.
Probert the third robbery target, says prosecutor
Probert was the third target, according to Degen's line of questioning. He suggested to the teen that he grew frustrated when Probert appeared to ignore him, and then laugh at him, when he demanded her belongings.
Degen said the teen then attacked her with a corkscrew in one hand and a knife in the other.
Degen said the corkscrew had been bent at a 90-degree angle and fashioned into something like brass knuckles, which the teen used to strike Probert four times in the face. He then stabbed her with the knife and left her for dead.
"I did not kill Ms. Probert, that is not true," the teen said in his final answer to the prosecutor's questions.
Earlier in his testimony, the teen said it was the man he was with that night who actually attacked Probert and that he was simply a witness.
Teen says he was afraid of man with him
The teen said he was afraid of the man, who he said threatened to kill him and his girlfriend if he said anything about the killing. That man was a key witness for the Crown earlier in this trial.
Degen questioned why, if he was afraid of the man, he spent the night with him and tried to contact him in the days after the murder.
Degen also played surveillance video from a store in the neighbourhood which showed the teen and the man laughing and smiling. The teen testified that was an act.
Police examined the teenager's phone after he was arrested and found someone had used it to search information on the Probert murder in the days immediately following her death. On the stand, the teen said it wasn't him.
The teen's identity is protected by a publication ban. Dressed in a suit and tie, he was polite and almost deferential during the barrage of questions.
He's not done yet. His own lawyers will have more questions for him when the case resumes Wednesday.
New evidence yet to be revealed
Also, there's still no indication what new evidence police uncovered when they reopened their investigation on the weekend. Something the teen said during his first day of testimony prompted the reinvestigation.
The new evidence was delivered to the lawyers on Sunday and shown to the teen on Monday.
The lawyers indicated they will not complete the trial as scheduled by the end of this week. Instead, two days have been set aside next month for final arguments.