Watson to take stand in his own defence Monday
Andrew Watson will take the stand in his own defence Monday.
Watson is on trial for the firstdegree murder and criminal harassment of Lise Fredette.
His trial started March 20 before a six-woman, six man jury in the Peterborough Superior Court of Justice.
The Crown rested its case Tuesday after calling 23 witnesses.
On Thursday, Watson’s lawyer, Stefan Dimitrijevic, gave his opening submission to the court. It was brief, lasting no more than five minutes.
“I want you to keep in mind you’ve only heard one side of the evidence so far,” Dimitrijevic told jurors.
He said he’d be calling two witnesses as well as Watson.
The defence lawyer said he wouldn’t be revealing what his client would say, but what they could expect to hear.
“I anticipate he’ll tell you he had nothing to do with what happened to Ms. Fredette,” Dimitrijevic said.
The Toronto-based lawyer then made a request of the jury. “The only thing I’m going to ask you to do is keep an open mind.”
Anne Kossmann was the defence’s first witness.
She attended the dances on Saturday nights at the Mapleridge Recreation Centre on Brealey Drive, where Watson and Fredette met in 2011 and continued to attend.
Watson, 78, and Fredette, 74, dated on and off until April 2014.
Kossmann had seen the couple at the dances, but had never spoken to Fredette.
The retired nurse ran into Fredette at Walmart on Chemong Road the day before Fredette disappeared. Fredette was the manager of the jewellery department
Kossmann and Fredette talked for about 10 minutes on Nov. 11, 2014. They made small talk, chatting about Watson and the man Fredette was dating at the time, court heard.
Fredette mentioned she and Watson had broken up because they no longer saw eye-to-eye. She told Kossmann that Watson was “OK as a friend” and had a nice house, Kossmann testified.
When assistant Crown attorney Andrew Midwood questioned Kossmann, he asked her how well she knew Fredette.
“It was the first time I’d had a conversation with her,” Kossmann said, adding she was surprised Fredette even knew her name.
Jordan Casey was the defence’s second witness.
Casey is an articling student at Edward H. Royle and Associates, the firm Dimitrijevic works for.
She took photos of Fredette’s home on Bensfort Road from various angles on nearby streets and from the cemetery parking lot across the street. Fredette confided in family and friends that Watson was watching her from the cemetery parking lot, jurors heard previously.
Casey also took measurements from the cemetery parking lot to Fredette’s house and from Watson’s house to the neighbour’s house on Payne Street. His neighbour testified she saw Watson leave his house in his vehicle the night Fredette went missing, though he told police he was at home.
The photos taken from the cemetery parking lot revealed a clear view of Fredette’s house.
When Midwood cross-examined Casey, he pointed out that she worked at the defence’s firm, was compensated by them and would be undergoing a review by them. She agreed.
The Crown drew Casey’s attention to a photo of Fredette’s house that showed Fredette’s car backed into the end of her driveway. Behind it there’s a shrub and a tree.
“From no vantage point can you see from behind that vehicle and the shrubs behind it,” Midwood asked Casey. “That’s correct,” she said. A pool of blood matching Fredette’s DNA profile was found behind her vehicle the day after she was reported missing. Her DNA profile also matched a pool of blood found in front of her vehicle. And Watson’s DNA profile matched blood found near her car’s driverside door.
“So if something happened back there, you couldn’t see it?” Midwood asked.
“That’s correct,” Casey said.