Witness changed mind about giving details of death

A 19-year-old witness acknowledged providing little information to police in the days immediately following the fatal beating of Shawn Douglas.

But he told a Regina Court of Queen’s Bench jury he has since admitted to everything that happened, including that he also took a swing at Douglas’ head with a sledgehammer.

The 19-year-old, who cannot be named because he was 16 at the time of the Aug. 7, 2014, homicide, testified for the Crown on Tuesday and returned to court on Wednesday for cross-examination by defence lawyers for three men on trial for first-degree murder.

Johnathon Nelson Peepeetch, 26, Dennis Calvin Thompson, 35, and Joshua Duane Wilson, 27, are accused in the 54-year-old man’s death, which court heard occurred in a bush near Zehner.

The 19-year-old also continues to face a first-degree murder charge, he said.

This week, he provided an account in which he said Peepeetch told him to hit Douglas, who was then on the ground following an initial blow allegedly delivered by Peepeetch. The teen said he took the sledgehammer and brought it down on the back of the man’s head in a motion like “chopping wood.”

He said he didn’t say much during a statement in August 2014 immediately following his arrest, but changed his mind two years later, providing a more detailed account of what he said he and others did.

“Everyone was still in that gangster mindset,” he said of his reasons. “There’s no snitching and that. You just keep quiet .... It got to me after a while. I just wanted it to be finished.”

Defence lawyers for the three accused questioned the witness on his memory, his level of intoxication at the time and his honesty in his testimony.

While he acknowledged having used alcohol and drugs and having a hazy memory of certain aspects of the night and morning in question, he said he remembered key details such as the fatal beating.

The witness told the court Peepeetch removed Douglas from the trunk and bound his hands, telling him and others they were going to take him to the bush and leave him there. The witness said he believed Douglas was to be left alive.

He testified he realized otherwise when Peepeetch said a prayer and told Douglas to pray. Moments later, according to the 19-year-old, Peepeetch swung a sledgehammer at Douglas’ face. He said the other five males in the bush then took turns hitting Douglas with various makeshift weapons, taking his turn when directed by Peepeetch.

“(The older males) just said, ‘Do what you’re told,’ ” he said of the directions to himself and two other younger males, taking exception to a suggestion from Thompson’s lawyer Kathy Hodgson-Smith that he could have taken a stand.

“What if that sledgehammer went through my head?” he questioned.

He maintained it was the three accused at fault for what happened, and denied he was simply looking to point the finger of blame at anyone other than himself.

Defence lawyers for the men are expected to begin their cases Thursday.