‘Confession’ made by accused, witness tells Sugar murder trial

A Regina man told a jury Colinda Lee Hotomani talked about stabbing a man, then leaving a house in flames.

“(She said) that there’d been a fire started to end the house, to finish off the house that they came from,” Shayne Mathieson said.

Mathieson was one of several witnesses who testified on Thursday at the first-degree murder trial for Hotomani, 36, and Gregory James Wolfe, 26. The pair is accused of killing 31-year-old Ryan Daniel Sugar sometime between Oct. 4 and 5, 2016.

Court previously heard evidence that Sugar suffered injuries in an assault before ultimately dying from smoke inhalation. Regina Fire & Protective Services responded to a house fire at 1555 Mctavish St. early on the morning of Oct. 5, 2016. It wasn’t until a few days later, on Oct. 11, that Sugar’s body was found in a back bedroom of the badly damaged house.

The jury had heard testimony from a co-accused in the homicide, Jessica Pangman, who told the court Wolfe and Hotomani participated in the assault. She said Wolfe used a large TV to block Sugar in the bathroom while Wolfe and Hotomani set fire to a pillow immediately outside the room.

Pangman said Sugar had made it into the back bedroom and was still alive when the group left.

On Thursday, Mathieson testified about a conversation said to have taken place the night of the incident. He said he was at his house on Elphinstone Street when an acquaintance who was staying with him came home with three people, who he named as Colinda, Jessica and “G-wolfe.”

He said the group used drugs together and that Hotomani, while holding a knife, provided when he termed a “confession.”

“She seemed nervous and was playing with the knife ...,” he told the court. “What I really remember is she said she stabbed him.”

Under cross-examination by Hotomani’s defence lawyer Greg Wilson and Wolfe’s lawyer Mervyn Shaw, Mathieson acknowledged drug use has taken a toll on his brain. But he maintained he has a good memory, and easily recalls that conversation.

“One thing I’m for sure (on) is Colinda confessing,” he said.

Pangman’s ex-partner Nolan Sugar (court didn’t hear if he is any relation to Ryan Sugar) testified he spoke with Hotomani some time after the incident.

He told the court Hotomani said they “had to do it or else Ryan was going to kill Jess.”

The trial, set for four weeks, continues Monday.