Warning: This story contains some graphic details.
The lawyer representing accused murderer Christopher Garnier brought up the idea that erotic asphyxiation may have played a role in the death of Catherine Campbell.
Garnier, 29, is facing a charge of second-degree murder and improperly interfering with a dead body. He has pleaded not guilty to both charges.
The Crown has alleged Garnier killed Campbell at a McCully Street apartment and used a green bin to dispose of her body. Campbell, 36, was a member of the Truro Police Service and a volunteer firefighter for a decade before her death. She was off-duty at the time of the alleged murder.
READ: Christopher Garnier pleads not guilty to murder of Catherine Campbell, jury selection underway
Autopsy results show Catherine Campbell was strangled
Dr. Matthew Bowes, Nova Scotia’s Chief Medical Examiner, told the court that he performed an autopsy on a body that police found under the Macdonald Bridge in the early morning hours of Sept. 16, 2015.
Bowes was qualified as an expert in court and able to give opinion evidence on the cause, manner and mechanism of death.
Bowes said he was able to positively identify the body as belonging to Campbell through dental records and determined that her death was a homicide caused by strangulation.
In addition, Bowes said when Campbell’s body was located, she had a fractured nose and black eyes. Bowes testified he believed the fractured nose occurred at or around the time of death.
Defence suggests erotic asphyxiation
While cross-examining Dr. Bowes, defence lawyer Joel Pink brought up the idea of erotic asphyxiation to the seven-man, seven-woman jury hearing the case.
Pink outlined a hypothetical situation in which a man who recently separated from his girlfriend went to a friend’s house on Sept. 10, 2015. Once there, the pair drank and smoked marijuana before taking a taxi downtown to go to Cheers where they drank. The pair later left Cheers and went to a second bar, the Alehouse.
Once there, the man who recently separated from his girlfriend met up with a woman at the Alehouse and the two had a few drinks together, kissed and left together, arriving at the friend’s home that the man was staying at.
In Pink’s hypothetical situation, once inside the residence, the two started kissing and the victim asked the man if he ever practiced domination, to which he said no. The woman told the man she had a fantasy of being dominated and while kissing in the hallway, asked the man to choke her. Once in the bedroom, the pair were on a pullout couch. There, the man applied pressure with his right forearm to the left side of the woman’s neck and the woman asked the man to slap her, which he did.
In the hypothetical, blood was noticed coming from the woman’s nose area and the man went to get a towel. When he returned, the woman was completely still and had stopped breathing. That’s when the woman’s body was removed from the house and transported to a brush area.
After presenting his hypothetical situation, Pink asked Bowes to comment on it. Bowes told the court he didn’t consider it during his autopsy but that the hypothetical can’t be excluded.
READ MORE: Jury sees video of Catherine Campbell with her alleged murderer at bar, kissing
Accused, victim met at bar on night it’s alleged she was killed
This is the second week of a five-week trial for Garnier.
The court has previously heard evidence that Garnier and his girlfriend broke up and he went to stay with his friend, Mitchell Devoe, at a McCully Street apartment.
The pair went out downtown and Garnier met Campbell at the Halifax Alehouse. Video surveillance shown to the jury last week shows them touching, kissing and dancing at the bar.
WATCH: Surveillance video from inside the Halifax Alehouse on the night the Crown alleges off-duty Truro police officer Catherine Campbell was killed
The Crown alleged in their opening statement that once Garnier and Campbell were back at the McCully Street apartment, Garnier struck her in the head and strangled her — before removing her body in a green bin and dumping it under the Macdonald Bridge.
The jury was also shown video taken from the Soma Vein and Laser Centre which shows a man removing a green bin from a McCully Street property early on the morning of Sept. 11, 2015.
WATCH: Video of a man pushing a pushing a green bin from a McCully Street home
Police describe body being found face down, located on an embankment
Halifax Regional Police Sgt. Tony Croft also testified Tuesday. He told the court that he took photos of a body that police found on Sept. 16, 2015.
Croft says the body was located on an embankment up against a rock wall and that police had a difficult time accessing it. Croft testified he had to crawl on his hands and knees at some point to get to the site.
Croft said the body was located face down and that the individual had a firefighter’s tattoo on their neck. He also told the court that the person had on a dress, no bra and underwear when the body was removed from the site by the Medical Examiner.
Croft also said he photographed Christopher Garnier after he was arrested at an RCMP station in Lower Sackville, N.S. He noted that there was a mark above Garnier’s left ankle and a scab that healed over on one of his hands.
On cross-examination, Pink asked Croft if there were any cuts or scrapes on the bottom of Garnier’s feet when he photographed him, Croft said no.
READ MORE: Garnier Trial: Jury shown pictures of body discovered under Macdonald Bridge
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