Witness reluctantly testifies at murder trial

A man implicated in a murder on the Nakazdli reserve described the incident as an “accident” when he testified Tuesday during a trial at the Prince George courthouse.

James David Junior Charlie faces a count of first-degree murder in the death of Fribjon Bjornson.

A missing person case turned into a murder investigation when the Vanderhoof man’s severed head was found in an abandoned home on the reserve just south of Fort St. James.

Often mumbling and incoherent, Wesley Duncan usually responded with brief answers as Crown prosecutor Richard Fernyhough pressed him for details on what occurred during the early morning of Jan. 12, 2012.

According to an agreed statement of facts presented to the jury, Bjornson went to a home on the reserve to buy drugs but once inside he became the victim of a beating and a strangling in the home’s basement.

At question is Charlie’s involvement in the homicide.

“An accident happened,” Duncan said when asked to give his account.

Fernyhough replied with an incredulous tone in his voice as he repeated Duncan’s answer

“We were drunk and on drugs,” Duncan continued, prompting Fernyhough to say he was not asking how he was feeling or how intoxicated he was but rather what happened.

As the questioning continued, Duncan reluctantly responded with some elaboration.

“We got in a scuffle with him and that and it just went bad,” he said.

Duncan said he and a friend, Jessie Bird, “did most of it” and that he remembers sitting on a couch listening to Charlie and Duncan’s then girlfriend, Theresa Charlie, “yelling at me. What did I do?”

While on the stand, Duncan complained he was tired because he hasn’t been able to sleep and claimed he had trouble remembering events because of the blows to his head he has suffered in the past.

“I don’t know,” Duncan answered irritably when asked why Bjornson was being beaten in the first place.

As for Charlie’s involvement, Duncan said the accused “took off” when he and two others started punching Bjornson and left again when he came back to find Bjornson unconscious and lying on the floor.

“We were being stupid, we were drunk and just playing around and it just went too far,” Duncan said.

The trial continues today.