North Okanagan man’s death ‘not self defence, or result of provocation’: Crown counsel

An Armstrong, B.C., woman accused of fatally shooting her common-law partner three times pleaded not guilty as her long-awaited murder trial got underway Monday morning.

Lynda Saundry is accused of killing Barry Jones, 55, in their shared home near Armstrong on July 29, 2020. Crown counsel Mallory Treddenick told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Allan Betton that the issues at play are why and whether Saundry’s actions amount to first-degree murder.

“We anticipate the issue to revolve around self-defence and fabrication,” Treddenick said.

“Over the course of the next two weeks, the Crown will present evidence proving beyond reasonable doubt that Ms. Saundry intended to kill Barry Jones and was not acting in self-defence or as a result of provocation. Saundry …had a motive to kill Mr. Jones, and made the choice to end his life.”

Treddenick said Jones died from three gunshot wounds, and evidence presented in the next two weeks will lay out how the events of July 29, 2020 transpired. She will call on multiple police officers who attended the home in the aftermath of Jones’ death, as well as a firearm expert and a transitional worker who was near Saundry in the days following Jones’ death.

She also will call on friends of Jones, who bore witness to their seemingly volatile relationship.

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The first of those witnesses was called to the stand Monday, though a decision on whether some of his testimony will be used has yet to be determined.

Barry Furlong had been friends with Jones for several years, he told Betton. He and Jones often went for beers, and on the night Jones died they’d spent some time together.

He said he had six beers, Jones had four and he saw Saundry have one. Drinking, he said, was a contentious issue between Saundry and Jones, though he said Saundry rarely talked to him.

He had, however, overhead arguments and said, “If we’d be drinking, she’d get bad, and call him down.”

“Calling him down” included making remarks about how Jones was useless.

He also described Saundry as mercurial, noting that she’d be enraged and yelling one minute, and then the next time he’d see her she was happy.

When asked if Saundry was a jealous type, on a scale of one to 10, he said she was a 10. He said that Saundry would often comment about Jones being after women, and would call him names like “pig.”

He said Jones rarely responded.

“He didn’t care…. He never said nothing,” Furlong said. “He’d just up and leave.”

When asked if he’d ever heard Jones threaten Saundry, he said no, though he did once install a deadbolt lock on her door.

It’s Crown’s responsibility to prove the case against Saundry.