Defence lawyer suggests witness admitted to killing Chelsie Probert
Lawyer said the witness told an associate he 'killed her and got away with it'
A lawyer for the boy accused of murdering Chelsie Probert suggested in a Halifax courtroom Wednesday that the Crown's main witness admitted to killing the young woman himself.
Probert, 18, died after she was stabbed on a path near Farrell Street in Dartmouth, N.S., on June 6, 2017.
A 17-year-old boy is on trial in Halifax youth court for second-degree murder. The boy, who cannot be named due to his age, has pleaded not guilty to the charge, and the case is being heard before a judge alone rather than a jury.
On Monday, the 20-year-old witness, who cannot be named because doing so might identify the accused, testified he saw the boy attack Probert and later say, "She's dead, I killed her."
But under cross-examination on Tuesday, defence lawyer Brandon Rolle suggested the witness tried to rob Probert after seeing the accused was unable to pull off a robbery earlier in the evening. When Probert didn't take the robbery seriously, that bothered the witness and he attacked her with a tire reamer and knife, Rolle said.
'Killed her and got away with it'
On Wednesday, Rolle went a step further, suggesting the witness admitted to the crime and told an associate that he "killed her and got away with it."
The witness replied emphatically, "Your suggestions are absolutely false" — a statement he repeated in court throughout his cross-examination.
In the days after Probert's death, the witness gave two statements to police. In court, he said his first statement, in which he denied any knowledge of the murder, was "a boatload of crap" and that his second statement was the truth.
He testified Wednesday that he told the truth the second time after receiving advice from his father. He said his motivation for doing so was that Probert's family would know what happened to her, and that no one else would take the fall for it. He said he also wanted to talk about his own role that night and get it off his chest.
'An accomplished liar'
The defence took aim at the witness's credibility, calling him "an accomplished liar."
Under cross-examination on Tuesday, the witness admitted he lied multiple times to his mother, father and police about what happened that night. He also testified he is an avid marijuana user, drinks heavily, has abused pills, is a low-level drug dealer and has stolen, threatened someone and wanted to buy a weapon.
Lawyers for the accused suggested Wednesday that the Crown's case rests on this witness, and applied to have his first statement to police, which was recorded, played in court.
But Crown lawyer Steve Degen told Judge Elizabeth Buckle that wasn't necessary, and said it's not unusual for someone to lie to police and then change their story. He also said Buckle should judge the witness's evidence based on "the witness taking the box."
The judge denied the request to play the recorded statement in court.
The Crown will call one more witness on Thursday before resting its case. The trial is scheduled to continue next week. It's still unclear whether the accused will be called to testify.
With files from Elizabeth Chiu