Man injured prior to death in fire, murder trial hears
Several days after a fire destroyed a Regina house, investigators found themselves contending with a horrific discovery.
The soot-blackened body of a man was found curled on the floor beneath the window of a back bedroom, clad only in track pants and covered partially by debris.
Const. Aaron Robertson, a forensic identification officer with the Regina Police Service, testified earlier this week he used a tattoo and, later, a fingerprint to help identify the body as 31-year-old Ryan Daniel Sugar.
Robertson noted other things at the scene. Sugar’s body — which had not been directly exposed to flame — was intact so as to allow investigators to see numerous injuries that had been inflicted.
Two people are now standing trial, accused not only of playing a role in causing those injuries, but of ensuring Sugar was caught inside while the house at 1555 Mctavish St. was set ablaze sometime between Oct. 4 and 5, 2016. Colinda Lee Hotomani, 36, and Gregory James Wolfe, 26, are each facing a first-degree murder charge.
On Friday, court heard further detail of the injuries Sugar sustained, as well as the ultimate cause of his death: carbon monoxide poisoning from smoke inhalation.
Forensic pathologist Dr. Andreea Nistor conducted the autopsy on Oct. 12, 2016, the day after Sugar was found.
Testifying as to the cause of death, she noted the presence of black soot in his airway extending into his lungs.
“It was obvious that he was exposed to the fire and he was basically inhaling during the fire,” she said.
Christopher Keddy, a toxicologist with the RCMP’S National Forensic Services Division in Ottawa, examined samples of Sugar’s blood and urine. He determined the level of carbon monoxide in Sugar’s blood to be 70 per cent — significantly above the percentage required to cause death.
Keddy also found methamphetamine and methadone in Sugar’s blood, and calculated his blood-alcohol concentration at .244 — approximately three times the legal driving limit.
Nistor also noted a variety of injuries, commonly known as slash marks, cuts, scratches and scrapes, to Sugar’s head, face, torso and limbs. While the slash marks appeared to have been made with a sharp object, other injuries took the form of semicircles and were of similar size with a somewhat irregular shape.
She was unable to say exactly what caused the injuries, although she concluded none were sufficient to cause the man’s death.
Court previously heard police searched the house and piles of debris looking for items that might have caused the wounds. Several knives were seized, as well as a number of brooms and metal poles investigators thought might match up to the semi-circular injuries.
Robertson told the court none of those items looked to have been used in the assault.
Defence lawyers Greg Wilson for Hotomani and Mervyn Shaw for Wolfe have asked a range of questions of witnesses, drawing attention to a stove the Regina Fire Department discovered was turned on when crews initially arrived. Wilson also asked Robertson if he’d found evidence Sugar had been restrained, to which the officer answered no.
Also under cross-examination, Robertson was unable to say whether the window in the room where Sugar was found was operable.
The trial, set for four weeks at Regina Court of Queen’s Bench, continues on Monday.