Murder trial witness asked about honesty

A key witness in the trial of three men accused of killing Shawn Roderick Douglas denied playing an active role in the August 2014 beating death.

But under cross-examination by the men’s defence lawyers, Aiden Anaquod admitted to lying in the past and changing some details of his story over time.

Johnathon Nelson Peepeetch, 26, Dennis Calvin Thompson, 35, and Joshua Duane Wilson, 27, are each accused of first-degree murder. On Monday — the third day he’s been before a jury in this trial — Anaquod acknowledged he continues to face his own firstdegree murder charge in Douglas’ death.

But, while he continued to insist the three men on trial played the central role in the incident, he found himself faced with questions about his own role and his honesty on that point.

“I didn’t kill Mr. Douglas and I didn’t know he was going to get killed,” Anaquod told the jury hearing the case at Regina Court of Queen’s Bench.

But lawyers for Peepeetch, Thompson and Wilson — Lori Johnstone-Clarke, Kathy Hodgson-Smith and Kevin Hill respectively — suggested that wasn’t altogether true, and that he was making up elements of his story to protect himself.

“You don’t want to admit you did hit him, do you?” Hill asked at one point.

“Because I did not hit him,” Anaquod said.

Defence counsel questioned him on other aspects of his testimony, such as his recollection of what happened in the bush where court previously heard Douglas was killed.

Anaquod testified last week — and repeated on Monday — that Peepeetch gave Douglas a cigarette, said a prayer for him, then swung a sledgehammer at his head. Anaquod alleged Douglas fell against Wilson who started stabbing him with a knife, after which Thompson, wielding a hammer, joined in.

But on Monday, Hill put it to the witness there is no evidence Douglas suffered stab wounds.

“I seen Josh stab him ...,” Anaquod insisted. “It wasn’t a mistake. I seen it clear as day ... I can’t mistake something like that.”

Nor had he made a mistake, he said, about who was present in the bush or their roles.

Noting the presence of Thompson’s DNA on several articles of clothing, including some seized from Anaquod, Hodgson-Smith asked whether Anaquod and two other males had given Thompson a “beat down” — a suggestion Anaquod met with a humourless chuckle.

“Dennis could destroy the three of us together,” he said. “We wouldn’t stand a chance against Dennis Thompson.”

Anaquod admitted he initially lied to police about some details — such as the identities of his co-accused — until a phone call from the then-18-year-old to his mother resulted in his co-operation. As to why he’d initially lied, Anaquod — then a lowerlevel member in the Native Syndicate street gang — said he was worried about “snitching” and didn’t identify his co-accused at first because he was “scared of them.”

Anaquod denied suggestions the Crown had offered him a deal in exchange for his testimony, telling the court he plans on taking his own charge to trial.

“I want to be able to help myself ... but I’m also trying to give some closure to (Douglas’) family,” he said of his testimony.

I seen Josh stab him ... It wasn’t a mistake. I seen it clear as day ... I can’t mistake something like that.