Missing package, inconsistent witness

Ryan McCarthy hammer attack trial enters second day

Day 2 of the trial for alleged armed robber Ryan McCarthy continued Tuesday in P.E.I. Supreme Court.

McCarthy appeared in the Summerside courtroom to answer to charges from an incident last January in O’Leary.

The first witnesses called in Tuesday’s proceedings were employees of the Shell gas station who were working the night of Jan. 29.

They confirmed McCarthy entered the store around 7 p.m.

Next, the court heard from a third person involved in the event, a youth who said he waited in the car while the alleged robbery and assault took place.

The youth has already served three months in juvenile detention for his part in the alleged crimes. He cannot be identified because of his age.

He said McCarthy and another person told him they were going to buy cigarettes from Gail Meunier.

“But, they had the masks on, so I knew it wasn’t good,” he testified.

He alleged the two attackers left McCarthy’s car at a main street parking lot, walked through a patch of woods and returned within 10 minutes.

When the men returned to the car, one of them carried a large package, partially wrapped in Christmas paper. He put the package in the trunk.

McCarthy threw a hammer in the back seat, said the witness, and then drove him to a friend’s house.

When questioned by police Jan. 30, the youth attempted to protect the others and withheld information from police in his initial statements.

Defence counsel spent over an hour cross-examining the witness, picking away at his version of events and pulling out inconsistencies in his police statements.

Supreme Court Justice Tracey Clements is hearing the McCarthy case.

He is alleged to have entered the home of Gail Meunier and her daughter, Louise Barlow, attacking Meunier with a hammer and stealing cash from her purse.

Meunier’s injuries were described by police as “pretty severe injuries”.