Accomplice says he froze during girl’s murder

A 19-year-old man appeared largely composed as he sat in the witness box on Tuesday, telling the court about the violent death of a 16-year-old girl he once called a friend.

But while an agreed statement of facts filed by Crown and defence states the young man was an accomplice to the murder of Hannah Leflar, the 19-year-old claimed he didn’t know Skylar Prockner was serious about planning to kill Leflar and that he didn’t know what to do when it actually started to happen.

“I wanted to help her so bad but I was frozen,” he told the court. “I couldn’t move.”

The male was 16 at the time of the Jan. 12, 2015 incident to which he has since pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

A hearing is now being held to determine whether he will receive an adult life sentence or a maximum-seven-year youth sentence.

The 19-year-old cannot be named unless sentenced as an adult.

Prockner previously underwent a similar hearing, following which he received an adult sentence for his first-degree murder conviction. He is appealing.

During his testimony, the 19-year-old said he suffered an abusive childhood and struggled to fit in at school, but later counted Leflar and Prockner among his friends.

Defence lawyer Greg Wilson took his client through the events leading up to the murder, discussing Prockner’s inability to cope when Leflar broke up with him.

The 19-year-old said Prockner was more than just a friend; he was “extended family,” as close to him as a brother.

And so the 19-year-old took part in discussions surrounding a plot concocted by Prockner dubbed Project Zombify.

“He sometimes said that he wanted to hurt someone,” the male said of Prockner, telling the court the plan was to beat up Leflar’s then-boyfriend and “convey the message that Hannah was (Prockner’s) and his alone.”

Even so, the male insisted he didn’t believe there was any reality to the plan, that he thought it was simply “a way for Skylar to vent.”

The plan “just kind of faded away” after Leflar broke up with that boy, the 19-year-old said.

But Prockner’s feelings for Leflar didn’t and the male said Prockner asked him to “keep tabs on Hannah” for him.

Then, on the morning of Jan. 12, 2015, the 19-year-old awoke to a message from his friend. Prockner asked him to try to make plans with Leflar to hang out at her house after school and for her to leave the door unlocked.

The male said he didn’t think there was any risk to Leflar until Prockner picked him up after school and told him he was going to kill her — and even then, the 19-year-old said he didn’t think his friend was serious.

“I didn’t think he was actually going to do it,” he said.