Witness says accused murderer didn’t ask him for gun

One Colt .45 fired all five bullets the day a Hamilton man was shot and killed six years ago while working on a backyard shed.

That’s what a forensic firearms expert related during the firstdegree murder retrial into James Bajkor’s death on Thursday.

But a key witness disputed who the gun belonged to, conflicting with previous testimony.

“It was my firearm. He never told me to get his gun,” said the 22-year-old, referring to the accused, Shaquille Collins.

The witness, who was under 18 at the time of his arrest, can’t be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

His testimony Thursday didn’t agree with the facts in his 2014 guilty plea to manslaughter in Bajkor’s crossfire death.

In that version of events, Collins allegedly told him and Christopher Newton, now 34, to fetch his gun to settle a score with a former Barton inmate, Justin Beals.

Both have already entered manslaughter pleas in Bajkor’s 2012 shooting death.

Collins, 25, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in Bajkor’s death.

The jury has heard Bajkor, 22, was working on the roof of his backyard shed at 16 Milton Ave. on May 21, 2012, when he was shot.

The Crown maintains Collins fired five bullets at 5:45 p.m. that hot Victoria Day in an attempt to kill Justin Beals over a jail beef.

Collins is also charged with attempted murder.

However, the Crown has argued “it doesn’t matter if the person killed is the intended target — it is still murder.”

Before Thursday’s testimony, Justice A.J. Goodman cautioned the jury to disregard “improper” evidence referencing Collins’ previous court cases.

What happened then has no bearing on the 12-person jury’s job this time around, Goodman said.

“Nothing else matters and that includes what happened at any other trial.”

Goodman called Collins’ current trial “square one” and emphasized the presumption of his innocence.

“I am confident you will decide this case fairly, thoughtfully and judiciously.”

When the current trial began May 14, the jury heard how Beals and Amber Thorogood, his girlfriend at the time, had a run-in with Collins before the shooting.

After a scuffle, the couple ran to 16 Milton Ave., where her cousin, Brandon Hackett, was a tenant.

Court heard Collins showed up in a cab with Newton and Thursday’s witness, from whose hoodie Collins grabbed a gun and started shooting.

Thorogood, Beals and Hackett took cover inside the brick home.

Thursday’s witness told Collins’ defence lawyer, Alison Craig, he didn’t know who Beals was.

He heard the gunshots but didn’t see the shooting or its aftermath, he told Craig under cross-examination.

“I was long gone.”

Beals was wounded but survived after surgery. However, one of the bullets also struck Bajkor in the back.

Despite being close to Hamilton General Hospital — Milton Avenue is just east of Sanford Avenue North — he didn’t survive.

“There was significant blood loss,” Dr. Elena Bulakhtina, a forensic pathologist, told court.

The bullet hit his right lung, heart and a major blood vessel, Bulakhtina said.

Gun expert Benjamin Sampson said the shooter would have fired in an alley between 16 Milton Ave. and the house next door.

He also explained how examination of the casings and bullets were matched to a Colt .45.

The weapon was later found in Toronto.

The trial continues Friday.