The car in a ditch at the site where an OPP officer was fatally shot had been stolen the previous day, the trial of the pair accused of his murder heard Wednesday.
Ontario Provincial Police Const. Grzegorz Pierzchala was shot on Dec. 27, 2022, while responding to a vehicle in the ditch west of Hagersville, Ont., near Brantford.
Randall McKenzie and Brandi Stewart-Sperry were each charged with first-degree murder in his death. Both have pleaded not guilty.
An agreed statement of fact prosecutors read to a jury trial Wednesday said a man had his Nissan Armada stolen from a restaurant parking lot in Hamilton on Dec. 26.
“The Armada is the same Nissan Armada that was in the ditch on Indian Line at the scene where P.C. Pierzchala was shot on Dec. 27, 2022,” the statement read.
The statement of fact also said several stolen items, including vehicle permit papers and a car key fob from other people, were found in Stewart-Sperry’s backpack at the time of her arrest.
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Another agreed statement of facts read in court Wednesday detailed photos, videos and text messages discovered on a cellphone belonging to McKenzie, including a video of a man “driving a car with a handgun in his hand” on Dec. 14.
“It is specifically agreed that Randall McKenzie is the individual in the video,” the statement read.
The court has heard from multiple witnesses so far, including some who had stopped at the side of the road after spotting the car in the ditch and law enforcement officials involved in the investigation.
Earlier this week, McKenzie’s older brother Richard took the stand and told the court that he had found the two accused inside a trailer on his property the afternoon of the alleged murder. He testified that a neighbour told him there were police in the area and he then told his brother to leave. The brother said he later learned on social media that something had happened nearby.
McKenzie’s sister-in-law, Katelyn Garlow, also testified on Monday about seeing McKenzie and a woman inside the trailer that day. McKenzie had been “walking back and forth, frantic, pale,” she told the court, and she had noticed the woman was crying.
The Crown has said it is looking to prove that McKenzie was the shooter and that Stewart-Sperry intentionally helped him.
The trial is taking place in Cayuga, Ont., a community near Hagersville, and it is expected to last six weeks.
Witness testimony is expected to continue on Thursday.
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