Trial hears man lost nose and upper lip in shooting

When Const. Andrew Ritza saw someone lying in a yard in Saskatoon’s Pleasant Hill neighbourhood, he noticed the man’s upper lip and nose were missing.

Police had received a call about someone being shot in the 300 block of Avenue R South. Blood stained the fence of the yard where the injured man was found, Ritza testified in Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench on Tuesday.

Dale Cory Ahpay, 32, is on trial facing 15 charges, including attempted murder. He’s accused of shooting Devon Cyr in the face and disfiguring him on June 22, 2015.

A black-and-white surveillance video taken from a resident’s garage was played in court, showing a man firing a gun before running down an alley.

Sgt. Mikael Ziola, a Saskatoon police forensic identification officer, testified the alley in the video was the crime scene he recorded just hours later.

Ziola said he was initially told multiple shootings had occurred in the area. Two shotgun shells and wadding from inside the shells were located in the unfenced yard off the alley, he testified.

Police also found shoes and a tank top that was “saturated in blood,” court heard.

Const. Ritza said the victim appeared to have shotgun pellet wounds to his leg. However, during cross-examination, Ziola said no pellets were found at the crime scene.

Court heard officers eventually seized two guns: an automatic rifle and a pump-action shotgun. Ahpay’s charges include two counts of possessing a loaded, prohibited firearm and two counts of carrying a concealed weapon.

In their initial news release, police indicated two men were shot, but there was only enough evidence to support one attempted murder charge.

Police also confirmed that the shooting was gang-related.

The trial is expected to continue Wednesday.