Former neighbour testifies at Sandeson's murder trial

William Sandeson's defence team tried Tuesday to poke holes in the evidence from a neighbour who testified he heard a loud bang and saw a bleeding man in Sandeson's apartment the night Taylor Samson disappeared.

Sandeson is charged with first-degree murder and is on trial in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Halifax. The prosecution accuses him of killing Samson, whose body has not been found, during a drug deal. Both were Dalhousie University students.

Pookiel McCabe lived across the hall from Sandeson in the same small Halifax apartment building. McCabe told police three versions of what he saw and heard the night in August 2015 that Samson is believed to have been killed.

In his first two statements, taken just days after Samson disappeared, McCabe told police he heard nothing. 

A different story emerges

Last October, McCabe was approached by a man named Bruce Webb who identified himself as a private detective.

He told court he wasn't sure if Webb was working for the Crown or the defence. But McCabe told Webb about hearing a bang and then seeing a man sitting slumped over at Sandeson's kitchen table with blood on his back and a pool of blood on the floor.

McCabe said Webb told him he should go to police with his new version of events. But McCabe told court that before he could do that, police showed up at his door. 

Blood-stained man and money

On Tuesday morning, Eugene Tan, one of Sandeson's lawyers, spent a lot of time with McCabe going over security video from outside Sandeson's apartment.

The defence suggested McCabe didn't have much time or a very good vantage point to see inside Sandeson's apartment. But McCabe stuck to his story of seeing a blood-stained man with money on the floor. 

The CBC's Blair Rhodes live blogged from Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Halifax.