Police found tarp, gloves in car of man charged in killing officer

A Halifax jury has heard that police found a tarp, work gloves and rope in Christopher Garnier’s car when they arrested him in the killing of an off-duty police officer.

Sgt. Kenneth Burton told Garnier’s murder trial he followed a white Ford Edge from a home in suburban Clayton Park to central Halifax in the early hours of Sept. 16, 2015, in the area where Const. Catherine Campbell’s body was found.

The Crown has alleged Garnier punched and strangled the 36-year-old Truro, N.S., police officer inside an apartment and used a green compost bin to dump the body in thick brush near the Macdonald Bridge.

Burton said the car returned to Clayton Park and the driver was stopped by another officer. He says Garnier was placed under arrest and that he saw a green tarp, work gloves, a backpack, yellow rope and tape in the car.

The Halifax Regional Police officer told the Nova Scotia Supreme Court jury Wednesday he did not know what Garnier’s job was, or whether any of the items could have been related to it.

The 29-year-old Garnier has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and interfering with a dead body.

Garnier had met Campbell at a downtown bar on Sept. 11, 2015, and the defence on Tuesday put forth a hypothetical scenario suggesting she died during a consensual sexual encounter after encouraging Garnier to choke her.