Victim might have been impaired

Pathologist says Mark McCreadie may not have been able to defend himself

KITCHENER — Mark McCreadie had so much booze and drugs in him that he may have been too drowsy to defend himself when he was strangled and stabbed on the edge of Kitchener’s Victoria Park, jurors heard Monday.

“It’s possible he was less able to fight back,” Dr. Allison Edgecombe testified at Derrick Lawlor’s trial for first-degree murder.

Lawlor, 56, is accused of murdering McCreadie, 50, on April 9, 2014. The prosecution alleges Lawlor had three-way sex with McCreadie and another man in the woods near the Iron Horse Trail. The other man left before Lawlor allegedly killed McCreadie. McCreadie has been described as an obese, alcohol-abusing transient, estranged from his family. He died with a blood-alcohol level 1.5 times above the legal driving limit, toxicology tests revealed. He was taking multiple prescribed medications to fight anxiety and depression and he also had cannabis in his system.

He was strangled and stabbed in his stomach, said Edgecombe, a forensic pathologist who autopsied the body. The stab wound might have eventually killed McCreadie but he died of “external neck compression.”

The prosecution alleges Lawlor used a scarf or soft ligature to strangle McCreadie as part of a deliberate plan to kill a homosexual man. Lawlor, who formerly worked

on contract for the University of Waterloo, has pleaded not guilty.

Jurors have heard testimony that Lawlor was in Grand River Hospital five weeks earlier, admitting that he previously had thoughts about harming promiscuous gay men.

Crown prosecutor Linda Elliott asked Edgecombe to respond to a hypothetical scenario: a victim who is prone or kneeling is strangled from behind by someone who puts a knee or elbow in the victim’s back to increase pressure around the neck.

This scenario is consistent with autopsy findings, Edgecombe said. The pathologist said under cross-examination that she could not estimate time of death.

In her testimony, Edgecombe led 14 jurors through gruesome autopsy photographs. “I know it’s hard to look at,” she said.

The trial continues Tuesday.