1 R. v. Bruno Kraljevic and Branka Kraljevic VOLUME 1

Transcription

1 1. R. v. Bruno MONDAY, DECEMBER 8 TH, 14 THE COURT: Morning, everybody. MR. DULUDE: Good morning, Your Honour. THE COURT: Morning, Counsel. MS. CUNNINGHAM: Morning, Your Honour. THE COURT: Morning, Ms. Cunningham. MS. CUNNINGHAM: We are here today to start a trial, the matter of Bruno and Branka Kraljevic. THE COURT: Yes. MS. CUNNINGHAM: This matter is set for two weeks. I think Mr. Dulude and I are both hopeful that we may not take the full two weeks, but I thought it best to leave ample time just to be certain. THE COURT: Sure. MS. CUNNINGHAM: Perhaps we could have them arraigned, and then we can address the Court with some narrowing of the issues to a certain extent. THE COURT: All right. Before we begin, Mr. Dulude, good morning. MR. DULUDE: Yes. Good morning, Your Honour. I represent both Bruno and Branka Kraljevic. They re both present here and ready to be arraigned. THE COURT: All right. COURT CLERK: Thank you. I have three informations before the Court. MS. CUNNINGHAM: The Crown will be proceeding on It s a re-laid information. COURT CLERK: Thank you. Your name for the record? Accused: My name is Branka Kraljevic.

2 2. R. v. Bruno Arraignment COURT CLERK: Thank you. Branka Kraljevic, you are charged that on or about the sixth day of July, in the year 13, at the City of Ottawa in the East Region, did, in committing an assault on Nicholas Paquette, use a weapon, namely: a garden tool, contrary to s. 267(a) of the Criminal Code of Canada. You are further charged that on or about the sixth of July, in the year 13, at the City of Ottawa in the East Region, did, in committing an assault on Claude Paquette, use a weapon, namely: a knife, contrary to s. 267(a) of the Criminal Code of Canada. You are further charged that on or about the sixth day of July, in the year 13, at the City of Ottawa in the East Region, did, in committing an assault on Claude Paquette, wound, maim, disfigure, or endanger the life of the said Claude Paquette, and thereby commit an aggravated assault, contrary to s. 268(2) of the Criminal Code of Canada. You are further charged that on or about the sixth day of July, in the year 13, at the City of Ottawa in the East Region, did carry a weapon, namely: a knife, for a purpose dangerous to the public peace, contrary to s. 88(2) of the Criminal Code of Canada. Crown s election please? MS. CUNNINGHAM: By indictment. COURT CLERK: Thank you. Do you waive reading of the accused s election?

3 3. R. v. Bruno Arraignment MR. DULUDE: I do. COURT CLERK: The accused s election is? MR. DULUDE: This court. COURT CLERK: Do you waive second reading? MR. DULUDE: I do. COURT CLERK: Your plea to these four charges as read, guilty or not guilty? Accused: Not guilty. COURT CLERK: Thank you. Please have a seat. Accused: Thank you. COURT CLERK: And your name for the record? Second accused: Bruno Kraljevic. COURT CLERK: Bruno Kraljevic, you are charged that on or about the sixth day of July, in the year 13, at the City of Ottawa in the East Region, did commit an assault on Christian Paquette, contrary to s. 266 of the Criminal Code of Canada. Is there a Crown election? MS. CUNNINGHAM: By indictment. COURT CLERK: Thank you. Do you waive reading of the accused s election? MR. DULUDE: I do. COURT CLERK: And the election is? MR. DULUDE: This court. I also waive read... COURT CLERK: Second reading? MR. DULUDE: Yes. COURT CLERK: Thank you. And your plea to this charge as read, guilty or not guilty? Second accused: Not guilty.

4 4. R. v. Bruno COURT CLERK: Thank you. Please have a seat. MS. CUNNINGHAM: Thank you. Your Honour, the Crown intends to call approximately ten witnesses as part of the Crown s case. There will be probably between five and seven civilian witnesses called, and a few police officers as well. Your Honour will hear that this case essentially involves a dispute that arose between the Paquette family and the Kraljevic s on the sixth of July of last year, and in the course of this dispute, Claude Paquette suffered two stab wounds. The medical records concerning those wounds will be filed, and it is admitted that his wounds meet the test for aggravated assault in this case. I anticipate the primary issue that will arise during this case is going to be one of self-defence and/or defence of others, just to put the evidence in a bit of context for Your Honour. THE COURT: All right. Anything else? MS. CUNNINGHAM: I don t think there are any other preliminary issues that need to be addressed. So the Crown s first witness is Caitlin Armstrong. THE COURT: All right. Now, there s nobody in the room as I see, but given the number of witnesses on the prospective list, would a witness exclusion order be in order? MS. CUNNINGHAM: Yes. I think it would, Your Honour but I would ask for an exception for the

5 . R. v. Bruno Caitlin Armstrong in-ch. investigating officer, Detective Svidran, who I don t anticpate calling as a crown witness in this case. MR. DULUDE: That s fine, Your Honour. THE COURT: All right. Well, there ll be an order then excluding witness. The only exception will be Detective Svidran; and should you anticipate any kind of overlap, Mr. Dulude, as the evidence unfolds, we ll have the detective step outside if required. MS. CUNNINGHAM: Thank you. That s S-v-i-d-r-a-n. THE COURT: So you re excepted to the witness exclusion order, detective. * * * * * * * * CAITLIN ARMSTRONG: SWORN EXAMINATION IN-CHIEF BY MS. CUNNINGHAM: Q. Morning, Ms. Armstrong. A. Hi. Q. I m just going to ask you to keep your voice nice and loud... A. Uh-hmm. Q....okay, when you re giving your answers? The microphone in front of you records what you re saying, but it doesn t amplify your voice the way a microphone normally does. It s also important that you give all of your answers in words because everything is being recorded. So nodding or shaking

6 6. R. v. Bruno Caitlin Armstrong in-ch. your head doesn t get recorded. Okay? Q. Thank you. Ms. Armstrong, can you tell us where you were living on July 6 th of last year, 13? A. I was living at 77 Fleming Avenue. Q. Okay. And what kind of a residence is that? A. It was a single family home. I think you call it a-a raised range style. Q. Okay. And did you live there alone? A. I had two roommates. Q. Okay. And when did you start living at that residence? A. July 11. Q. Okay. And what part of the City of Ottawa is that in? A. It s considered Elmvale Acres. Q. Okay. And can you tell us a little bit about that neighbourhood? Is it purely residential? Is it mixed commercial or what? A. That neighbourhood, it s... That part of the neighbourhood is all residential. Q. Okay. And did you know many of your neighbours in July of 13? A. Mainly the ones who lived right around us, and we knew the neighbours down the street just to say hello. Q. Okay. I want to take you to the evening of July 6 th, 13. Do you know the evening that I mean? Q. Okay. I understand that something occurred

7 7. R. v. Bruno Caitlin Armstrong in-ch. that evening that caused you to call the police. Is that right? Q. Okay. Can you tell us how this first attracted your attention? What were you doing that evening when this was going on? A. I was sitting in the a room at on the top floor of the house I was living in, and I was actually sewing. It was about eight-thirty. I had the windows open, and I could hear some loud voices outside. So I looked at what was going on and I could see a man who was wearing a pair of pants, no shirt, and a hat, and he was holding something in his hand. It was about a foot long. It looked like from my vantage point that it was maybe metal, had three prongs on the end, and he was going towards the man that lived on the house on Fife, asking him, basically saying I know you don t speak English, but do you want this back? And then he was had walked towards him, and then he walked back to the corner of Fleming and Fife where a couple other of his family members were standing. Q. Okay. I m going to pause you just for a second and see if we can go back and fill in some of the details. So you describe first a man with pants, no shirt, and a hat? Q. Okay. Did you know this man? A. I had seen him before. I be... Just enough to know that he was one of - Sylvie who lived right across the street from us, family members. Q. Okay. So Sylvie lived across the street from you?

8 8. R. v. Bruno Caitlin Armstrong in-ch. Q. Okay. And what was your relationship to Sylvie? How well did you know her? A. Just we sort of saw her at the once a year barbecue in the summer, and enough, you know, that she came over to borrow like an electrical cord once, say hi in the driveway. Q. Okay. So you recognized him as who? A. A family member. I d seen him coming to and from the house before. Q. Okay. Did... Okay. As a family member, you had seen him before? Q. Okay. Okay. And you described this person with pants, no shirt, and a hat, as approaching someone else... Q....or another residence? Can you describe where that residence is relative to your home? A. So my home at the time was at the so on Fleming, but it was right where Fife, which is a crescent, met Fleming. And so he with the... The man on Fife s house was about it s two houses in on Fife, the crescent. Q. Okay. So this man on Fife, is this someone that you knew from before? A. I did not know him personally, but I knew of him. Q. Had you ever had any interactions with him? A. No. Q. Okay. And so can you give us some sense of approximately how far away you are? When you re looking through

9 9. R. v. Bruno Caitlin Armstrong in-ch. your window, how far away are you from these two individuals who are having an interaction near the house on Fife? A. It was about 0 feet away. Q. Okay. Okay. So you ve described seeing the man with no shirt and with pants holding something in his hand and approaching the man on Fife s house. Could you see what that man was doing, the man from Fife? A. He d been... He was standing the end of his driveway, and he bas[ph]... Yeah, when I-when I saw him he was standing, and... Yeah. That was... Q. Okay. A. At that point that was it. Q. Okay. When you initially looked out and observed this interaction, did you see any other people that were outside in the vicinity? A. Basically it was a couple of the fam-family members from the house on Sylvie s house on Fleming, and after the man with the pants and no shirt, and the hat, was walking away, the man the man from the house on Fife s wife, I could see her. She had started to take photos. Q. Okay. A. So she was coming down the driveway. Q. Now the point in time where you saw the wife taking photos, what was happening? What was she taking photos of from what you could see? A. Just the-the man with the pants, no shirt, and the hat, talking to the man on Fife, and hold-holding whatever it was in his hand. Q. Okay. Okay. What s the next thing that you

10 . R. v. Bruno Caitlin Armstrong in-ch. remember seeing? A. After that when the man with pants, no shirt, and the hat, walked back to his family members who were at the corner of Fleming and Fife, another family member who was wearing yellow shorts and no shirt, he approached the man on Fife at the end of his driveway and started to talk to him, and at that point the man from the house on Fife cuffed him in the side of the head, and the rest of the family members from Sylvie s house ran over, and at that point I looked around for my-my cell phone. Q. Okay. I m going to stop you just so we can get a little more detail. So you ve described someone from the family group walking back over to the man on Fife s house? Q. Okay. And did you see where this person went specifically? Did they go onto the property up to the house, or where... A. It was at the end of the driveway. So they were, during these this altercation, they were basically at the on the street, end of the driveway. Q. Okay. And when this person walked over to the house on Fife, to the end of the driveway, could you see or hear whether there was any conversation happening? A. It looked from my point as if they were speaking. Q. Were you able to hear what was happening? A. No, I couldn t hear what they were saying. Q. Okay. Okay. And you described the man from the house on Fife as cuffing the other person?

11 11. R. v. Bruno Caitlin Armstrong in-ch. Q. Can you describe what you mean by that? What specifically did you see? A. Basically he took his hand and sort of hit him in the side of the head, just around the ear area. Q. And from what you could see, did anything immediately precede that? Did anything happen just before that from what you could see? A. From what I could see, they were just talking. Q. Okay. Can you tell us anything about the body language of the two people? Were you able to see anything about that? A. There was definitely tension. Q. Okay. And what did you see happen after the man from the house on Fife cuffed the other man? A. The rest of the men from Sylvie s family ran over and that s when I looked around for my cell phone. Q. Okay. And so you looked for your cell phone. Were you able to continue watching what was happening out your window while you were looking for your cell phone? A. Basically, I looked down for my cell phone, was not in that room, so I could see that there was obviously an altercation between this group of people, and I ran downstairs where my phone was, and by the time I d picked up my phone, called 911, was back upstairs, the altercation was still going on. Q. Okay. So at the point where you called 911, you ve described seeing the man from the house on Fife cuffing the other man. Did you see any other physical contact between

12 12. R. v. Bruno Caitlin Armstrong in-ch. these groups before you called 911? A. They... Basically, when the men from Sylvie s family ran over, it was just like it looked like they were trying to separate what was going on. Q. Okay. And are you able to give us any more detail about that? What did you see them doing that makes you describe it as it looked they were trying to separate them? A. They didn t appear to be aggressively going after the man on Fife, because he had hit one of their family members, and it looked his behaviour still looked aggressive. It looked more like they were just trying to hold him back and push him away from themselves. Q. Okay. You just described the man from the house on Fife as looking aggressive. What do you mean by that? What was he doing that makes you describe him that way? A. Well, he first obviously hit the man in the side of the head, and he just seemed he was not leaving the situation. He was continuing to basically provoke the situation. Q. Okay. Okay. And so it based on those observations that you decide to call 911? Q. Okay. And after you find your cell phone and you call 911, do you go back upstairs to the window? Q. Okay. And what do you see at that point when you next are able to look at what s happening? A. At that point, I saw within this group of

13 13. R. v. Bruno Caitlin Armstrong in-ch. Sylvie s family members, the man from the house on Fife had ended up on the ground, but he had managed to get back up and out of the situation. And I saw his wife. She had run inside the house, gotten two large knives, handed one to him, and then they both chased the group out of the driveway. Q. Okay. And I just want to go through that a little bit more slowly. So you said that the man from the house on Fife was on the ground and able to get back up. When you came back up the stairs after getting your phone and first looked out the window, was he on the ground at that point? He was on the ground within the group. Q. Okay. And what do you mean by within the group? A. The group was probably - I think it was about five people, was just standing around him. Q. Okay. Could you see what the group was doing? A. As far as I could tell, they I they weren t really going after him, and he was able to, from what I saw, he was able to get up out of the situation. Q. Okay. Did you see anyone striking, or hitting, or kicking the man from Fife while he was on the ground? A. I did not see that. Q. Okay. You told us that the wife of the man from the house on Fife had gone inside. Did you see her go inside? A. I saw her run inside, yes. Q. Okay. And are you able to tell us what was happening with the man on Fife at the point in time where she went inside?

14 14. R. v. Bruno Caitlin Armstrong in-ch. A. At that point, the group was still scuffling. That s what all I could fairly describe it as. Q. Okay. And what do you mean by scuffling, because I think that could mean different things... A. Yeah. Q....to different people? A. To me, that would... It basically just looked like Sylvie s family was trying to separate him from attacking them. Q. Okay. Did the scuffling include any hitting by anyone from what you could see? A. Not that I saw. Q. Okay. And it s at that point that you saw the wife go inside? Q. And then you describe her coming back out of the house. Can you tell us about that? A. She came back out of the house, and she was holding two large knives. It was very clear they were knives. I could see the them shining. And she handed one to her husband who had gotten up off the ground at that point, and then they both chased the group, Sylvie s family, out of the end of the driveway. Q. Okay. And could you see where her husband was when she came out of the house with the knives? A. He was probably about two feet away from thethe group of Sylvie s family members. Q. Okay. And you ve described her handing him a knife. Can you describe how that happened? Where they were and

15 . R. v. Bruno Caitlin Armstrong in-ch. what occurred? A. They were probably about, yeah, two feet or so away from the group at the end of their driveway which consisted of Sylvie s family members, and he had gotten back up to his feet at that point. Q. Okay. And what s the next thing that you remember seeing? A. They chased Sylvie s family members out of the driveway, and at that point the group dispersed, and they, Sylvie s family members, walked back to the corner of Fife and Fleming, and the couple from the house on Fife remained in their driveway. The wife from the house on Fife started to take photos again, and after that I was still on the phone with 911, and then soon after that police arrived and took care of the situation. Q. Okay. Did you see anyone get stabbed from your vantage point? A. I did not see anyone get stabbed. Q. Did you see any of the knives in close proximity to any of the members of Sylvie s family from where... A. I could... Q....you were? A....see that they had gone into the group of people. It was... And then after that, the group dispersed because I-I believe they noticed the knives and felt in danger so they moved away. Q. Okay. And you ve told us that you remained on the phone with 911 until the police arrived?

16 16. R. v. Bruno Caitlin Armstrong in-ch. Probably two minutes later, the first police officer arrived, and she arrested the woman from the house on Fife and put her in the car, and then more police officers arrived after that; and I ended my call when the first police officer arrived. Q. Okay. Did you continue to watch what was going on after the police arrival? A. I did, but it was mostly just the two parties were separated, and there were a lot of police cars around. I wasn t watching very closely after that cause I figured the police were there so there was no need to. Q. Okay. From your observation of the entire interaction, did you... Perhaps I ll put it this way. Did you see any member of Sylvie s family behaving aggressively towards the people from the house on Fife? A. Not physically aggressively. There was obviously some tension due to the fact that when I first saw the conflict starting, the man with the pants, no shirt, and the hat, he was upset about this object that had somehow ended up in his possession from the man on Fife s house, and when he first approached him with the object, as he was walking back towards Sylvie, who was at the at Fleming and Fife, he said something about did you see him kicking, and he was very upset about it, as were the rest of the family members. It just seemed like they were very upset. Q. Okay. At any point in time from what you could observe, did it look to you like the man from the house on Fife was in danger of serious physical harm? A. No.

17 17. R. v. Bruno Caitlin Armstrong in-ch. Q. At any time did you see any member from Sylvie s family behaving aggressively towards the wife of the man from the house on Fife? A. No, I did not. Q. Did you see her come into physical contact with anyone from your observations? A. No, I did not. Q. And approximately how long do you think it took you to look for your phone? How long were you not watching what was going on during that middle part? A. Twenty seconds. It did... After I looked down to see my phone, it probably took another seconds for me to run downstairs, grab my phone and then run back upstairs. Q. Okay. So about 0 seconds in total then? A. Probably, yes. Q. Okay. You told us that the man with the pants and no shirt and hat, you had seen him before at Sylvie s, but you said that you didn t know him? A. Uh-hmm. Q. What about the other individuals that you ve identified as being present members of Sylvie s family? Did you know any of them? A. No, I did not know them. Q. I think I had asked you at the outset whether you knew the man from the house on Fife, and you told us that you didn t know him, but you knew who he was. What about his wife. Did you know her at all? A. I did not know her either. MS. CUNNINGHAM: If I can have just one moment

18 18. R. v. Bruno Caitlin Armstrong in-ch....pause... please, Your Honour. MS. CUNNINGHAM: Q. Thank you very much, ma am. Those are all my questions, but if you just stay there, Mr. Dulude will have some questions for you. A. Uh-hmm. MR. DULUDE: Perhaps, Your Honour, we could excuse the witness. THE COURT: All right. Madam, would you mind just stepping out in the hall for a minute? This is kind of common in the course of a trial. We have to do this....witness exits witness box/courtroom... MR. DULUDE: Your Honour, there s an issue that arose in the last week, and that was regarding the transcript of the interview that this witness gave to Detective Svidran. THE COURT: Yes. MR. DULUDE: I did not have a copy of that transcript, as well as a copy of the transcript of another witness which you ll hear from....not transcribed...submissions on a transcript of an interview of this witness by Detective Svidran...prepared by Mr. Dulude which has not been compared against the taped interview... Court gave Defence time to review tape......further submissions continued...not transcribed... MR. DULUDE: Fair enough. Thank you, Your Honour.

19 19. THE COURT: All right. Okay. We ll come back at eleven-thirty. R E C E S S U P O N R E S U M I N G: THE COURT: Was that sufficient time, Counsel? MR. DULUDE: It was, Your Honour. Thank you. * * * * * * * * CAITLIN ARMSTRONG: PREVIOUSLY SWORN RE-ENTERS ENTERS WITNESS BOX : CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. DULUDE: Q. Ms. Armstrong, good morning. A. Hi. Q. I m going to play a tape to you and I m going to ask that you listen to it carefully. This is a 911 call, and I m going to ask you a few questions about it afterwards. All right? A. Okay....pause...minor technical issue......audio-recording plays... MS. CUNNINGHAM: Sorry. I m going to ask my friend to stop.

20 . MR. DULUDE: Sure. MS. CUNNINGHAM: This is... MR. DULUDE: This is a 911 call from Mr. Kraljevic, and I m going to ask questions in relation to that, Your Honour. THE COURT: Why are you going to play... MR. DULUDE: I m going to... THE COURT:...the tape of another witness? MR. DULUDE:...ask the witness if she recognizes the voice of Mr. Kraljevic. THE COURT: No, wait a second. The evidence as far as I know... I don t know what the actual materiality of that would be, but the evidence as far as I ve heard already is that there s not even... Well, the witness is in the room, but they don t know one another. I thought you were going to play the witness s tape to her? MR. DULUDE: Well, I can forego that, Your Honour, if you wish, but... THE COURT: Yes. I don t see the materiality of whether or not she recognizes Mr. Kraljevic s voice or not. MR. DULUDE: Okay. Q. Ms. Armstrong, it s fair to say that you wouldn t recognize Mr. Kraljevic s voice? A. I had never spoken with him. Q. Okay. And that was prior to the event of July 13?

21 21. Q. And you have... A. I have not spoken to him since either. Q. Since either. Okay. A. He wasn t allowed due to the incident as far as I know. Q. Right. When the event occurred, you didn t even know his name? A. No. I just knew which house he lived in. Q. You didn t know what he did for work either, I take it? A. No. Q. And the same would apply for his wife. Right? You d never spoken to her? A. No. Q. You didn t even know her name? A. No. Q. You didn t know whether or not she was employed? A. No. Q. You just knew that she lived on Fife Crescent. Right? Q. You also knew where Sylvie Paquette lived. Right? Q. She lived on Fleming Avenue, the same street where you lived? Q. You d spoken to her in the past. Have you not?

22 22. A. Only briefly. And to say hi, and she came to my door to borrow an electrical cord once. Q. You knew enough though to know that you recognized some of her family members? A. They came to her house often. Q. How often would they come to your house? A. They came to her house often. Q. Oh, they came to her house often. A. They did not... Q. How do you know they were family members? A. I had heard from my roommate who owned our house that Sylvie had a pool. Their family would come over in the summer and swim in it. Q. Okay. And you knew, of course, that she was having a party that day? A. I only knew once I saw her family members in the street. I... That s the only reason why. Q. But previously to that you had not noticed the cars that were parked right in front of your residence? A. Cars being parked in front of my residence was nothing out of the ordinary. Q. Okay. So there was often cars that were parked in front of your residence? A. It s street parking. People are allowed to park on the streets, so I d never thought anything of it. Occasionally, our other neighbour would park in front of our house. It was... And we d park in front of other neighbours houses. It was nothing I would have noticed. Q. So you were not invited to the party that day?

23 23. A. No. We had a relationship where I would say hi to her if I saw her in the driveway, but we were not friends. We just lived across the street from each other. Q. But you knew her on a first-name basis. Right? You d call her at some point. I can refer to the page in the interview, but you referred to her as Sylvie. Not that neighbour. Not Ms. Paquette. You said Sylvie? A. I had met her at a couple of barbecues which my next door neighbour had hosted once a summer for everyone on the block. Q. Right. So you chatted with her on a few occasions and you thought she was friendly. She was amicable. Right? A. As far as my relationship with her was, we said hello to each other. She felt comfortable borrowing, you know, an electrical cord from my house. She knew my roommate better than me. Q. That wasn t my question. My question was you chatted with her on a few occasions and you thought she was friendly? She was... A. She is... Q....amicable? A....a friendly woman. Q. She is a friendly woman as far as you know. Right? A. As far as I know. Q. And that was your perception at the time. Was it not? A. As far as my perception was, she was friendly

24 24. towards me. Q. Yes. And we do not need to speak to someone to recognize and interpret information that results in a perception. Do you agree with that? A. Well, you can assume something by observing someone. Q. But not only by observing someone. The process that results from recognition and interpretation of stimuli, that s based on memory, past experiences, and also on someone telling you something. Right? I ll give you an example. You see a panhandler in the street. You don t need to ask for his bank statement. You assume that that panhandler is destitute. All right? A. I actually work in...work and poverty alleviation so I... Q. Yes. A....personally would not assume that. Q. Okay. Someone tells you that they live at the Royal Canadian Mental Centre if you will, you ve never spoken to that person, but they tell you or someone tells you that they live at the Royal Ottawa. The assumption there of course is that person has mental health issues. Is it not? Q. Okay. And so you get what I m saying. There are certain perceptions that we, as human beings, have of people we ve never spoken to? A. Sure. Q. And those perceptions on the day of July 6 th, 13, prior to the event unfolding, you perceived Bruno, and Sylvie Paquette, very

25 . differently. Did you not? A. We had been told that he was had caused problems on the street before, so we just tried to avoid him. Q. That wasn t my question. My question was, prior to this event unfolding on July 6 th 13, your... THE COURT: That seemed like a fair response though. You asked her about her perception... MR. DULUDE: Yes. THE COURT:...and the witness said I had been told information about this individual on a prior occasion. When we ask you about perceptions... MR. DULUDE: Yes. THE COURT:...a classic reason to admit hearsay in the middle of a case that s not otherwise admissible is because it goes to one s state of mind or one s belief system. So I mean I think that s a perfectly fair response to that inquiry. MR. DULUDE: Q. And your perception then was this man was crazy. Right? That s how you defined him in your statement. I could point it out... A. Yes, I did... Q....to you. A....define him as that... Q. Right. A....because that is what we were told. Q. Right. So your perception of him was that he was hostile, dangerous, crazy. Is that fair to say? A. No, it is not. We had just been told to avoid him.

26 26. Q. Right. But you used, when referring to him in your statement, you used the word crazy? But I did not use the other words that you just said. Q. Okay. So those are not synonyms to you. Right? A. No. I never... Q. Crazy. What does crazy mean to you? A. I never said that. He had been known to... Basically, he d been known to harass his neighbours. We d been told that one neighbour - one house, had gone through several owners while he lived there. My roommate had spoken with Sylvie and knew that there was some kind of conflict there; and the summer before, which would have been August of 12, both me, my father, and another one of my roommates, witnessed the end of some kind of verbal confrontation between some of the Paquette family and the man from Fife. Q. Okay. So to you this man was crazy? A. He... That s what he exhibited. Q. That s what he exhibited to you. And that was your perception prior to this event unfolding on July 6 th, 13 of him, of course? A. I knew that he caused problems, and that his the behaviour he had been exhibiting was crazy. Q. So that was the type of emotional influence that you were under. You knew that he caused problems. You knew that that was his behaviour. That s what you had heard, and that s what you d been told, and that was your perception at the time. Right?

27 27. A. I don t think I had any kind of emotional response. I was not related to the incident whatsoever. I m not friends with either party, and I live in a separate household. Q. You don t need to be related to either party, or to anyone to have perceptions. Right? A. No. Q. Perceptions are not things that are directly tied to knowing someone. Perceptions, as I said earlier, can be based on a number of factors. Right? So in this case you may say well, I m not... I wasn t related to either party, but the fact of the matter is that there were different perceptions. You approached this incident with different perceptions? A. From what I observed... Q. No. No. But this is... A....on that day. Q. Okay. This is prior to from what you observed. Right? Because the incident happens. The event happens. But prior to that, those are the perceptions that you have. Right? A. I... Please repeat your question. Q. Sure. So prior to this incident unfolding, the perception you have on the one hand is Sylvie Paquette she s someone who s friendly. You knew her on a first-name basis. Right? Q. And the perception you have on the other end of the spectrum is Bruno Kraljevic, who from what you ve heard, is crazy. Right?

28 28. Q. Okay. And that of course, I take it, remains your perception to this day. Right? Nothing has changed for you to change that perception. Right? A. I have not spoken to either party since the incident, so no. Q. So that remains your perception to this day. Yes? Q. Okay. In terms of the accounts that you gave of the incident on that day, you gave multiple accounts. Right? You called 911 which was an account. Right? Q. You gave a written statement to Constable Proulx. Right? Q. When was that written statement to Constable Proulx, when was it completed? A. Probably eleven o clock the night of the incident. Q. Okay. What happens or what occurs between 8:49 which is the time the officers arrived on scene, and probably eleven o clock on the night of the incident? Can you tell us about that? A. I was sitting in my house wait... On the phone, the 911 dispatcher had asked me if I was comfortable speaking to the police and I said yes. If they want to speak to me, please come to my door. And I basically was just waiting in my house until a police officer came to my door.

29 29. Q. So you waited in your house between the end of your 911 call, which is approximately at eight... Q that night, and about eleven o clock when Constable Proulx knocks on your door or rings the doorbell? Q. Okay. And you re just sitting? What are you doing exactly? A. I was watching some TV programs on my computer. I had been sewing, so I continued. I finished some sewing I was doing. Q. Okay. Constable Proulx rings your doorbell or knocks on your door. You welcome him in your residence? He came in my front door. Q. Yes. A. He stood at the-the foot of our big the entrance of my doorway. Q. Yes. What happened next? A. He said I hear you witnessed something. Here, can you write down your statement? He gave me a stack of papers. Just told me, you know, write down what I had seen. I went and did that. He left and came back about half an hour later to collect my statement. Q. Okay. So you actually take what he gives you. And do you recall what he gives you? Does he just give you a sheet with a pen? A. He gave me several sheets of the pap[ph] of the form that you write a written statement on. Q. Right. So you go in your house at that point

30 . and essentially you write out what you had seen. Is that correct? Q. Okay. You also did a taped interview. Right? A. Yes, I did. Q. And how did that come about? A. I received a phone call from the detectives at about 8:00 a.m. the next morning, and they arranged for me to meet them at the Elgin Street police station. And I believed I taped that interview around 11:00 a.m. the next morning. Q. You have a pretty strong recollection of this incident or what happened that day. Right? You re giving the exact time, eleven o clock. Is that something you remember or is that something you were told? A. I remember it being in the morning, and it was also written on the transcript of my statement. Q. Eleven o clock was written on the transcript of your interview statement? A. I believe so. Yes. Q. Okay. And when did you obtain a copy of that? A. Last week I did a preparation... Q. Right. A....a witness preparation, and... Q. Okay. So you go into the police statement you say at eleven o clock, and you re giving a statement at that point, and you recount what you saw the previous night. Right? Q. Okay. And one of the things you talked about

31 31. is the fact that you have a very clear view of what happened? Q. Right. So you re suing[ph] in the upstairs spare room? A. Sewing, you mean? Q. Sewing, sorry. Yes. Q. Okay. How many rooms are there upstairs in your house which have a window? A. Five. Q. There s five houses... Sorry. There s five windows in your upstairs... A. There are five rooms... Q. Five rooms, yes. A....and they each have windows. THE COURT: All of them at the front of the house? Witness: Two of the rooms are at the front of the house... MR. DULUDE: Q. Okay. A....both which have windows. Three-three are at the back... Q. Okay. So... A....all which have windows. Q....if we were to see your house, then the front of the house, we would see two windows on the top floor. Would we not? A. There are two windows, and there s one that I would consider a skylight because it s-it s, you know... You can t... It s at the top of the entry way. You can't actually

32 32. really see through it other than the sky. So you d actually see three. Q. Okay. You were in one of the two rooms I take it where there was a window that was had a view to the front of the house obviously. Were you not? Q. Okay. And was that located on the left side or the right side of your house? A. Which way are you talking about? If you were facing the house, or... Q. If you re facing the house. A. If you re facing the house, it would be on the right side. Q. You were asked by the detective in the interview that you give whether or not there was any trees in your eyesight, or in your view. Do you recall that? A. There were no trees blocking my view from the incident. Q. There was no trees blocking your view from the incident. There would have been no cars blocking your view from the incident either? A. Because I was on the second floor, the cars were not blocking my view of the incident. Q. Okay. So you re on the second floor, and you seem to just say now that... Was there cars that may have been blocking your view if you were on the first floor, for example? A. If I had been on the first floor, probably. But I was not on the first floor. I was on the second floor.

33 33. Q. No, I understand that. But do you recall whether or not there would have been any cars that were blocking your view had you been on the first floor? A. If I had been on the first floor, which I wasn t... Q. Yes. A....there were cars parked in front of my house. Q. Yes. A. I believe there were two, because there wouldn t be any more room for more than two. Q. Were there any cars that were parked in front of the Kraljevic s residence? A. Not that I recall. Q. Were there any cars that were parked in front of the residence just beside the Kraljevic s residence? A. Not that I recall. Q. You were asked by the detective about the time of the day, and whether or not it s still light out. Do you recall that? Q. And your answer was that it was still fairly light out? Q. And that s your recollection, and that s your answer today. Right? A. It was still light out because it was July, and it was only 8: p.m. Therefore the sun had not set yet. Q. Okay. And so just to summarize it was completely clear. No obstructions from where I was in my window

34 34. to the end of the driveway, to where the altercation happened. [as read] That was what you told the detective, and that s your evidence today. Fair enough? Q. Okay. You also told the detective that you heard voices. Right? A. You need to rephrase that in terms of I heard voices in the street. Q. You heard... Sure. Okay. You heard voices in the street. THE COURT: Can you do me a favour, Counsel? When you re referring the witness to... MR. DULUDE: Yes. THE COURT:...what she told the detective, cause you ve already covered the fact that there s a statement provided from her home, and the following morning there was a video statement... MR. DULUDE: Yes. THE COURT:...provided at the station, just for my sake... MR. DULUDE: I ll qualify... THE COURT:...you know, just in case where you re questioning on both sometime down the road, tell me what you re talking about. MR. DULUDE: Okay. Q. Sure. I can qualify that and say you heard voices coming from the street? Q. And you told Constable Proulx that those voices

35 3. were those of your neighbours from Fleming Avenue. Right? You remember that? A. I could hear... I-I heard voices in the street. I looked outside, and it was people from Sylvie s house and the man from the house on Fife. Q. Right. But you told Constable Proulx that the voices you heard were not voices from your neighbours from Fife Avenue, or Fife Crescent. They were voices you heard from your neighbours from Fleming Avenue. Right? A. Well, I looked outside there was an altercation with the man from Fife beginning, verbally. Q. Right. But the voices that you were hearing was not the voice or voices of the man from Fife. The voices you were hearing were voices from your neighbours on Fleming? A. My neighbours on Fleming were quite close to my residence so I could hear them speaking. Q. Well, I can take you through their[ph] statement right now, but you re actually quoting in your taped interview, you were quoting sentences of not your neighbours from Fleming, but of this man who you described as wearing no shirt, and so forth? A. He would have... MS. CUNNINGHAM: Your Honour, I m unclear now which statement Mr. Dulude is referring to, because the question started with you told Constable Proulx, and now I think he s making reference to the video. So I just wonder if you could clarify. THE COURT: You know if it could be exact as well. The individual with no shirt, on the strength of

36 36. the evidence in-chief would have been somebody from Fleming. Witness: Uh-hmm. THE COURT: Am I correct? I believe... MR. DULUDE: Yes, it would, Your Honour. It would. THE COURT: Right. So the question was kind of put different. It wasn t somebody from Fleming. MR. DULUDE: Okay. Q. Well... THE COURT: We need to be clear. MR. DULUDE: Q....let me ask you this. The voices that you hear, and I m going to find it, and we can come back to it later if need be, but I understood from the statements that you gave and once again, I m not sure what specific statement... THE COURT: And Counsel, when are we talking about, like chronologically, because there s multiple... MR. DULUDE: Sure. THE COURT: Cause as I ve taken my notes, I ve taken it down in stages. In my mind... MR. DULUDE: All right. THE COURT: In my mind, I m trying to stage this thing out. MR. DULUDE: Yes. Absolutely, Your Honour. Q. Well, chronologically, as I understand it, Ms. Armstrong, correct me if I m wrong, but it seems as if you re upstairs and what attracts your attention, are voices? Q. Okay. And as soon as your attention is

37 37. attracted to that, you turn towards your window and you look outside? Q. Those voices are voices that were belonging to who? A. At that point, I was all I could hear were voices and there was some kind of altercation, verbal altercation, beginning between some of the people from Sylvie s house and the man on Fife. Q. Okay. And so is it after that that you were able to not only hear voices but hear exactly what is said? A. That is when I looked out my window and started to pay close attention to what was going on, and the man with the pants, no shirt, and the hat, was holding an object in his hand and asking the man from the house on Fife do you want this back? I know you don t speak English very well, and then he walked back to Sylvie and some of the other family members at the corner. Q. Sorry. Could you say that again? What was he asking? A. He had an object in his hand... Q. Yes. A....and he asked the man from the house on Fife if he wanted it back, and he said I know you don t speak English very well. Q. And you estimated 0 feet away and you re able to hear that question that s posed? He had been... He was walking towards the man who lived on Fife s house. He was at the end of his

38 38. driveway. Q. Right. So you were able to hear exactly what he says to him? A. At that point, yes. Q. And the object that he s referring to, what was it in your... A. I don t know... Q....examination... A....what it was... Q....in-Chief? A....but it looked like a piece of metal. It was thin. It had sort of what looked like three prongs at the end. Q. So you were able, from 0 feet away, to see the three prongs I take it then? Q. Okay. You could also tell that it was metal. You could also tell that it was thin. Right? Q. Okay. Following that statement you just told us about, during this whole incident, are there any other sentences that you hear, or any other things that you hear? A. After that, not... There was-there was no clear verbal exchange near my house. Q. There was no clear verbal exchange. When you say near your house, you mean... A. The rest of the altercation happened a hundred feet away from my house. What I... When... The one sentence I heard... Q. Yes.

39 39. A....was midway between the house on Fife and my house. He was walking towards him with whatever the object was. Q. Oh, interesting. Okay. So... And I didn t get that in your examination in-chief. So when you re telling us about that conversation, the individual is not 0 feet away from you. Right? A. No. He was halfway between the house on Fife and my house... Q. Okay. A....when I first saw the incident begin. Q. And this is the individual who does not have a shirt. Right? A. He was wearing pants, no shirt, and a hat. Q. Pants, no shirt, and a hat. And where is Mr. Kraljevic in relation to that individual that s... A. He was standing... Q....midway? A....at the end of his driveway. Q. Okay. Are there any other individuals that are near this man with pants, no shirt, and a hat? A. Not... How close do you mean? Q. Well, let me ask you the question. How close would any other individuals have been from that man? A. Approximately 0 feet, because he was halfway between my house and the house on Fife; and the rest of his family was standing at the corner of Fife and Fleming. Q. Okay. Could you tell us how old this man was? A. The man with the pants...

40 40. Q. Yes. A....no shirt, and hat? Approximately - something. Early thirties maybe. Q. So quite a young man depending on your view of things, of course. But could you tell us what... Could you describe his - any physical... Is there anything in terms of his physical description that you noted? Is this someone that was thin, for example? Is this someone that was... A. He was... Q....heavy? A....average. He was not too thin. He was not overweight. Q. This is someone I take it that you recognized from previous times when you saw Sylvie s family. Right? A. I had seen him around her house before. Q. Okay. And so you knew when you looked out that this man was related to Sylvie. Fair enough? A. That was my assumption. Q. Okay. Or your perception. Right? A. I m going to stick with assumption. Q. Okay. So we re at a point where this person is midway or halfway between you and Mr. Kraljevic who is at the end of his driveway. Is he standing still, this man? Is he walking? A. Is this when... Q. When you see this. A....when I start seeing... Q. When... A....him?

41 41. Q. Yes. A. He was walking towards the house on Fife, the man from the house on Fife. Q. Okay. And he s walking towards it. What like what kind of pace is he walking? A. At normal speed. It was not fast. It was not slow. Q. All right. And how far does he get? A. Oh, maybe ten feet away. Q. Okay. And so at that point if he gets if he s ten feet away, he s not in Mr. Kraljevic s driveway as far as you can see. Right? A. Not at that point. Q. Not at that point. Okay. And when he gets ten feet away from Mr. Kraljevic, what does he do? A. He was asking him if-if he wanted whatever the object was back. Q. Yes. And so when he s asking that, he s 90 feet away from him. Right? Q. How far am I away from you right now? A. Ten feet. Q. Okay. So if we multiply that by nine, that would be the distance, approximately of course we re not experts here, but that would approximately be the distance in terms of how far Mr. Kraljevic how far you were away from, not Mr. Kraljevic, but this person with pants and no shirt. Right?

42 42. Q. Okay. How would you describe his voice at that point? A. He was speaking loudly. Like very loudly. That s why I could hear him. Q. Okay. And in speaking very loudly, your evidence is that he would have simply posed him the question of whether or not he wanted this object back? Q. And following that, what does he do? A. He asked him do you want this back.... Q. Yes. A. I know you don t speak English very well, and then he walked back towards the corner of Fleming and Fife where the rest some of his family members were standing. Q. Okay. And so at that point you can quite clearly see that that person has walked back? Q. Right. They re at the corner of Fleming and Fife. Mr. Kraljevic is still in his driveway? Q. Right. So there s no incident to speak of? Like you remained fixated on the scene. Do you not? A. Yes, I kept watching. Q. You kept watching. Okay. And by keeping watch by continuing to watch, what exactly do you see happen next? A. A man with yellow shorts and no shirt went over to speak to the man whose house was on Fife. He was speaking to him. I couldn t hear what they were saying. They weren t speaking very loudly, and then the man from the house on Fife

43 43. hit the man with the yellow shorts and no shirt in the head. Q So this man that s got a yellow shorts and no shirt, had you seen him before? A. No. Q. You didn t know who it was, but you assumed that it was someone that was also belonging to Sylvie s family? Q. Okay. Once again, at what pace is he walking towards the house on Fife? A. An average pace. Q. Okay. Is he alone or is he accompanied? A. He s alone. Q. At that point, where is the man that you just described that was wearing pants, no shirt, and a hat? A. He was back at the corner of Fleming and Fife with the rest of the family members. Q. And so you described this man with yellow shorts and no shirt walking back towards the house on Fife. Does he have anything with him? A. No. Q. So he s just walking back. Is he saying anything? A. No. He was walk... Okay. The man with the pants and no shirt, and a hat, he walked back to his family members. Q. Yes. A. Once he got back to his family members, the man with the yellow shorts and no shirt walked towards the man whose house is on Fife...