Witness reconsiders testimony

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This article was published 08/01/2019 (2081 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As the manslaughter trial continued for two men accused in the death of 29-year-old Jeanenne Fontaine, jurors heard a witness backpedal from her recollection of a conversation that implicated one of the accused.

Fontaine died after she was shot in the back of her head on March 14, 2017, and was left inside her burning home at 457 Aberdeen Ave.

Malcolm Miles Mitchell was responsible for the shooting, and he was the man with the gun that Fontaine’s brother saw before he fled the house, jurors heard Wednesday.

It’s up to the jury to decide whether Christopher Brass and Jason Meilleur are guilty of manslaughter. Both have pleaded not guilty.

On Wednesday, a witness was called to testify about a conversation she had with Brass after the fatal incident. The woman’s identity is protected by a court-ordered publication ban because she fears for her own safety.

She told jurors Brass showed up at her house unexpectedly. She woke up to see him sitting at her desk in her bedroom wearing a T-shirt and shorts, “not street clothes,” she testified.

Under direct examination from Crown prosecutor Michael Desautels, the woman said Brass told her there had been a shooting and a fire.

When she was questioned by defence lawyers, however, the woman agreed she wasn’t sure what Brass had actually said. She admitted she didn’t want to be in court and had tried not to get involved in the case.

She said she was surprised to see Brass that day, and he seemed to be intoxicated. She wondered why he wasn’t dressed for the winter weather and why he didn’t have his backpack of clothes.

“I asked him, and he said he got rid of them,” she said in response to questions from Desautels.

She testified Brass said he was worried about his friends, Jay and Malcolm. Jay, she said, is Jason Meilleur — “I don’t care for him,” she said.

She pointed out both Brass and Meilleur in the courtroom.

“He said there was a fire and I asked him, like, what the hell are you talking about? I went on my phone, checked the lunch-hour news and I seen it for myself that there was a fire in a house on Aberdeen,” she said.

“He said that there was a fire. I asked him, like, who started the fire, and he said that Jay was supposed to.”

Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Gerald Chartier instructed the jury the woman’s testimony can’t be used against Meilleur.

Jurors are only to use it to help them reach their verdict on Brass.

Under cross-examination, the woman agreed she didn’t have specific memories about what Brass allegedly told her or when the conversation happened.

“He really didn’t say much,” she said in response to questions from Brass’s defence lawyer, Tara Walker.

“You started, in your own mind, to make some assumptions,” Walker suggested.

“Yes, I agree,” the woman responded.

Walker noted the woman had told police during an interview in May 2017 that she was assuming some of the details.

“Would it be fair to say that sitting here today, a year and a half later, approximately, that you can’t say for 100 per cent what Mr. Brass said, what you made up and what you read on the news?” Walker asked.

“I agree with that,” the woman said.

Walker: “That it’s all a jumble?”

“Yeah.”

The trial continues today.

katie.may@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @thatkatiemay