‘IT WAS A THREAT’

Trial begins for Matthew Lindsey Clarke, Brodie Joseph McQuaid who were shot on Christmas Day 2015

A Pleasant Grove man who shot two people in his home on Christmas Day in 2015 said he loaded a gun because he wanted to scare them.

Matthew Brian Misener took the stand in the first day of trial in P.E.I. Supreme Court in Charlottetown for Matthew Lindsey Clarke and Brodie Joseph McQuaid who were charged with break and enter and assault after the shooting.

They were the two men Misener shot and he said he was trying to warn off when he stuck his upper body out his kitchen window, aimed a rifle at the ground and pulled the trigger.

That shot and a second didn’t go off, but four others from a different gun later inside the house did, including three that hit McQuaid in the hand, neck and abdomen.

A fourth shot hit Clarke in the buttocks.

Misener was in handcuffs for part of his testimony because a judge sentenced him in February to one year in jail for assault with a weapon, careless storage of a firearm and possessing a firearm without a licence.

During Misener’s testimony, the court heard details of angry text and Facebook message exchanges between several people over several days.

Some of those involved Misener and his break-up with his ex-girlfriend.

Others involved Misener’s friend, Nick Watts, who was having a sexual relationship with someone else’s girlfriend.

Watts is also expected to testify.

According to Misener’s testimony it was angry, expletivefilled messages to Watts on Christmas Eve that started a chain of events leading up to the shootings.

Clarke sent one of the messages, and after he spoke to Misener on the phone, he and McQuaid went to Misener’s house where they would later be shot.

Misener testified Clarke told him he knew Watts was at Misener’s house and he was going to get him that night.

During his testimony, Misener said he didn’t remember his exact words, but he told Clarke he would be waiting for him if he showed up.

“It was a threat,” Misener said.

Misener confirmed he started to load ammunition into clips after he got a warning from his ex-girlfriend about Clarke going to his house.

“I’m suiting up,” Misener told Watts.

Under cross-examination, Misener said he didn’t remember telling Clarke to go to his house so they could settle things like men.

In his version of events, Misener said the gun went off as McQuaid was strangling him and the two struggled.

Misener said he shot Clarke and hit him in the face twice with the butt of the gun to stop his assault on Watts.

Brandon Forbes, who is representing Clarke, referred to messages between Misener and another man who supplied him with cocaine.

Misener confirmed a reference to “gangsters” in a message related to wide lines of cocaine.

The supplier responded he could only get him a small amount, but Misener wanted more.

The trial resumes this morning.