Four witnesses testified Thursday morning at the second-degree murder trial of Christopher Garnier, 29.
Garnier stands accused of killing Catherine Campbell,36, in September 2015. Campbell was a member of the Truro Police Service but was off-duty when it’s alleged the murder happened.
READ: Jury sees video of Catherine Campbell with her alleged murderer at bar, kissing
Det. Const. Christian Pluta, an 18-year veteran of the Halifax Regional Police, was the Crown’s first witness of the day.
Pluta testified he was tasked with looking for video surveillance that could help the investigation. By viewing video taken on Agricola Street, he ended up finding a dark-coloured cab on the morning on Sept. 11, 2015.
Pluta was able to track the cab to Yellow Taxi by using the image and GPS coordinates, ultimately locating the driver, Simon Zekarias.
Zekarias was the second witness to testify Thursday. He told the court he picked up a man and woman downtown and drove them to McCully Street.
Zekarias said he could not hear the conversation between the man and woman as he drove but said he “felt some tension.”
WATCH: Christopher Garnier murder trial sees first full day of testimony
He did not identify either Garnier or Campbell by name, only describing the woman as being “very slim” and the man as being 5’8″ and having facial scruff.
A second Halifax police officer also took the stand. Det. Const. Marshall Hewitt is a forensic identification officer. He told the seven-man, seven-woman jury that he took photographs at the McCully Street apartment where the Crown has alleged Campbell was killed.
Hewitt said he photographed everything he saw, including a pair of women’s underwear, although he told the court he wasn’t sure if it was of any significance.
Hewitt said he also photographed several spots he believed could have been blood. Some of the spots were located on the floor of the den, the back of the television, a Kleenex box and on the handle to a cupboard that contained cleaning supplies. Hewitt said another officer would have tested the spots to see whether or not they were blood.
Shaun Michael Kenney also took the stand. He worked at K&D Pratt and told the court he hired Garnier in September 2015.
Kenney said Garnier showed up for his first day of work on Sept. 14 and had a good demeanour. The following day, Sept. 15, Kenney said Garnier also attended work.
In fact, he said the two men serviced life rafts together at Pier 25 in Halifax. In doing so, they made two trips from their Burnside warehouse along Barrington Street to the site.
Kenney said on Garnier’s second day at work, his mood hadn’t changed. Although under cross-examination by defence lawyer Joel Pink, Kenney agreed that he had “no idea” what was going on in Garnier’s head.
Kenney testified Garnier did not show up for his third day of work.
Testimony continues Thursday afternoon.
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