Evidence ‘utter baloney’
Watson denies stalking Fredette or having anything to do with her disappearance
Where is she? Where is Lise Fredette?
That’s what the Crown asked Andrew Watson when he took the stand Monday.
“I have no idea, because I had nothing whatsoever to do with her disappearance,” Watson said.
The 78-year-old testified in his defence before a crowded courtroom in Peterborough Superior Court of Justice.
Watson said he resented assistant Crown attorney Andrew Midwood’s implications that he had anything to do with Fredette’s death.
“Let’s see some proof – then I’ll be impressed,” Watson said.
Watson said jurors have heard a lot of evidence that wasn’t true.
“This court has had a great deal of evidence that is utter baloney,” Watson said.
The Payne Street resident is on trial for the first-degree murder and criminal harassment of his ex-girlfriend, though her body has never been found.
Witnesses for the Crown testified that Fredette told them Watson was stalking her.
Forensic evidence was also able to reveal Fredette’s and Watson’s blood was in her driveway and in his car.
And a shovel with Fredette’s blood was found in Watson’s basement.
When questioned by his lawyer, Watson said Fredette’s blood must have gotten on the shovel when they were pulling out shrubs together. The reason he had the shovel in a bucket with bleach was because he was told it would prevent the spade from rusting, court heard.
And a combination of Fredette’s and Watson’s blood would likely be found in Watson’s vehicle and Fredette’s driveway because they were always cutting themselves and bleeding, he testified.
Watson and Fredette dated off and on for about three years, ending things for good in April 2014.
The Scotland native testified they decided not to get back together again because they agreed they weren’t compatible.
But they remained friends, he said, and Fredette continued to stop by his home to visit.
That’s how Watson said he knew what was going on in his ex-girlfriend’s life, he said.
“I wasn’t stalking her at all,” he said.
Watson said he wasn’t upset that she started dating another man, she was a “free woman.”
He admitted to writing Fredette several letters. The first one was quite vulgar.
Fredette contacted police after receiving that letter, asking an officer to tell Watson to leave her alone.
But Watson testified the mother of two kept visiting him, despite contacting police.
Yet he kept writing her letters. He said he wanted her to know how disgusted he was with her new boyfriend’s behaviour.
“I was trying to express my disgust,” Watson said.
The Crown asked Watson why he didn’t tell her to face if she was visiting him. He suggested Watson couldn’t tell her because he was lying about Fredette visiting.
In an interview with police Nov. 22, 2014, Watson said he hadn’t had much contact with Fredette since they broke up in April 2014.
Watson testified he lied to the officer that day. He said the officer was lying to him, so he was giving him some of “his own medicine.”
“I knew he was lying to me, lying through his teeth,” Watson said.
Watson went on to say how there were also “a lot of people lying in this trial.”
But Watson wasn’t lying on the stand, he said.
“I’m not lying right now. I’m telling you the truth right now,” Watson said.
Midwood asked Watson why he had Fredette’s boyfriend’s licence plate written on a piece of paper found in Watson’s vehicle.
It was a coincidence, Watson said. The owner of the car with that plate left their lights on at a dance one night and Watson wrote down the plate and told the dance organizers.
Watson told police during interviews how much he loved Fredette, court heard.
Yet when Fredette’s daughter told Watson her mom was missing, it didn’t seem to faze him, Midwood pointed out.
Watson proceeded to clean out his garage and raked his leaves that morning, court heard.
“I didn’t take it seriously at first,” Watson said.
And when police questioned Watson on the day of his arrest, 10 days after Fredette’s disappearance, he didn’t ask about her, Midwood said.
“Your only question for police was why it took so long to search your house,” Midwood said.
Watson takes the stand again Tuesday.