Key witness testifies in murder trial of Hay River man

A key witness of the events leading to the death of Alex Norwegian testified for over seven hours this week during the first-degree murder trial of Levi Cayen.

Levi Cayen is accused of murdering and robbing 25-year-old Alex Norwegian in the early hours of December 27, 2017.

In court, 36 year-old Tyler Cayen testified that he was drinking and smoking crack cocaine at James Thomas's house in the community of West Point First Nations in Hay River on the night of December 26, 2017.

He said one of the friends he was with, Sasha Cayen, got a text from Alex Norwegian asking for help getting his car out of a snowbank.

The group went to help free Norwegian and then returned to Thomas's home. A short while later, according to Tyler Cayen, Levi Cayen came over.

That's when he says Thomas told the group that they should go find Norwegian and rob him.

Tyler Cayen told the court that he and Sacha Cayen stayed at the home while Thomas and Levi Cayen left on a snowmobile, carrying a small wooden bat commonly referred to as a "fish knocker".

He said the pair returned an hour and a half later.

That's when Tyler Cayen says Thomas told him to start a fire in the wood stove and handed him the boots he was wearing and a black garbage bag full of an unknown substance and told him to burn them.

He said Levi Cayen told the group the pair had "roughed up" Norwegian but that he was conscious when they left. 

A short while later, he said Levi Cayen left the home and went into Hay River to call the police and report a drunk driver in the same area where he had left Norwegian. When asked if Levi Cayen had said anything about why he was making the report, Tyler Cayen told the court he "couldn't recall". 

Tyler Cayen also testified that he and Thomas went out a short while later to Lagoon Road on the outskirts of West Point to look for drugs that Norwegian had told him he had stashed there.

Defence attorney Alan Regel questioned Tyler Cayen about many inconsistencies between his testimony this week and his previous statements to police.

Tyler Cayen had previously told police that he wasn't at the home when Thomas and Levi Cayen returned.

In 2018, he told police that after finding out Norwegian was dead, Thomas devised a coverup and told him to lie about what had happened that night. 

When asked if Thomas had told him to blame the murder on Levi Cayen because he refused to participate in the coverup, Tyler Cayen denied it and said he only lied to police to protect himself.

His cross examination is expected to continue in the days ahead. The trial is scheduled to last five weeks.