Forensic pathologist testifies in Shawn Douglas murder trial

The Shawn Douglas murder trial has entered its fourth week of testimony, and taking the stand Tuesday was forensic pathologist Dr. Shaun Ladham.

Ladham performed Douglas’ autopsy, telling the court what injuries and trauma he observed.

At the beginning of the trial, the Crown warned the jury they would be seeing “some very difficult photographs” and those photographs would be the subject of Ladham’s testimony.

The Crown’s theory is that the three accused, Johnathon Peepeetch, Dennis Thompson, and Joshua Wilson robbed Douglas of his cash and credit cards, put him into the trunk of a vehicle, beat and killed him, and left him in a bush outside the city. Douglas’ body was found on Aug. 9, 2014, two days after the Crown believed he died.

When some of the photographs were presented in court, the three accused looked on emotionless.

On Tuesday, Ladham told the court when he received Douglas’ body, the 54-year-old man was clothed, clad in a white blue tartan shirt, blue jeans and charcoal loafers.

Photographs showed Douglas’ wrist and ankle had been tied with zipties. Ladham noted most of Douglas’ hair had come off, and there was much discoloration on his head and body, adding he noticed the eyes were decomposing. As well, there was clear evidence of trauma to his neck, head and body.

The photos were extremely graphic, and one female jury member had difficulty looking at the photographs. Her eyes often darted away from the screen. At times, other jury members also looked away when the photographs became too much to handle.

Court heard trauma to Douglas’ body likely all happened at one time. Ladham observed trauma to various parts of his head, including his forehead, eyes, skull, ear and chin. He also noted bruising to the left side of his head.

Douglas also had fractured ribs, plus fractures to the skull and nasal cavity. Ladham noted indentations in the back of Douglas’ head, consistent with a blunt object. His cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head.

When the Crown asked if the injuries could be consistent with being hit by a sledgehammer, Ladham replied yes. However, he said some of the punctures he observed were not consistent with a claw hammer.

For the first time during proceedings, the gallery was empty.