The first-degree murder trial for Dalhousie medical student William Sandeson heard from four witnesses on Tuesday.
Sandeson, 24, is accused of killing 22-year-old Taylor Samson, a Dalhousie University physics student in the summer of 2015. Samson’s body has never been located by police.
READ: Last images of Taylor Samson shown to jury in William Sandeson murder trial
Eugene Tan, one of Sandeson’s defence lawyers, spent much of the morning cross-examining Pookiel McCabe, who used to live across the hallway from Sandeson at 1210 Henry St. in Halifax.
On Monday, McCabe told the seven-man, seven-woman jury that on the night of Aug. 15, 2015 he was listening to music and having some drinks with a friend when he heard a loud bang. Moments later, McCabe testified Sandeson knocked on his door, seeming to be in shock.
McCabe said Sandeson’s door was open and a short time later, he and a friend looked inside and saw a man with dark hair, who was wearing shorts.
According to the witness, the man was sitting in a chair at the kitchen table and had blood coming down his back. He also told the court there was blood on the floor, along with money.
WATCH: Witness in William Sandeson’s murder trial heard bang, saw man bleeding in apartment
Under cross-examination, McCabe told the court that following the first statement he gave to police on Aug. 19, 2015, he received a telephone call from officers saying that if he did not come in and give another statement, he could be charged with obstructing justice. McCabe said he gave his second statement on Aug. 27, 2015.
In both of those statements, McCabe told police he did not see or hear anything on the night that Samson disappeared.
READ: Jury in William Sandeson murder trial sees police interrogation video
In October 2016, McCabe testified that he got a phone call from someone named Bruce Webb, who told him he was a private investigator. Prior to the call, McCabe said Webb had also sent him messages via Facebook but that he did not respond to them.
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McCabe said he wasn’t sure who Webb worked for but assumed it was for either the crown or the defence. He told the court that at that point, he told Webb what he saw and heard inside Sandeson’s apartment on Aug. 15, 2015 and was encouraged by Webb to tell police.
McCabe, who no longer lives in Nova Scotia, said he did not go to police. However, a few days after his conversation with Webb, McCabe told the court that police officers came to his door and asked him to go with them to give a statement. He had assumed that Webb had passed information on to them.
The jury also saw a recording from a surveillance system that Sandeson had set up inside the apartment building on Henry Street. They had previously watched this recording twice before.
Tan pressed McCabe on the fact that he is on video only looking inside the door to Sandeson’s apartment for a few seconds and questioned how good his vantage point would have been from where he was standing in the hallway. He also questioned whether or not some of the blanks in McCabe’s memory may have been filled in by the friend he was with that evening.
WATCH: Murder trial hears from police, Taylor Samson’s girlfriend
Halifax police officers take stand
Const. Chris Starrett was the first Halifax Regional Police officer to take the stand on Tuesday. He told the court that he was one of the officers who went in to Sandeson’s apartment before police had a warrant, to search for any sign of Taylor Samson.
Starrett said when he got to the apartment, other officers had already breached the door and gone inside. After police cleared the apartment, Starrett said he and another officer stayed behind to secure the scene. He testified the pair sat at the kitchen table, occasionally using the washroom, while officers wrote up a warrant to search the premises.
The second police officer to testify was Const. Justin McGrath. He was working with Starrett on the night police entered Sandeson’s apartment and told the court that when he first came into the building, he noticed some of the ceiling tiles were ajar.
McGrath said he and Starrett stayed in the apartment for nearly ten hours until Sgt. Sandra Johnston, a forensic identification officer, arrived to process the scene.
READ MORE: William Sandeson says during interrogation video intruders may have shot Taylor Samson
The third and final police officer to take the stand on Tuesday was Const. Corey Brewer, who has been a police officer for nearly five years. He told the jury that when he arrived on scene he noticed video cameras in the hallway of the apartment building.
While searching the apartment, Brewer said he noticed the kitchen appeared to be very clean which was different from the bedroom that he described as being very messy.
Brewer said he and his partner relieved Starrett and McGrath during their shift and continued to secure the scene. Brewer also testified that he and his partner sat at the kitchen table while in Sandeson’s apartment. The court heard that the reason officers sat inside at the kitchen table was so they would be able to guard all entrance points into the residence.
The jury in the Sandeson murder trial was sent home around 3 p.m., on Tuesday, however the lawyers and judge continued matters in a voir dire. Because the jury was not present for those discussions, the information is covered under a publication ban and cannot be reported.
The jury is scheduled to return to Nova Scotia Supreme Court and resume hearing evidence Thursday morning.
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