The head of the Saint John Police Forensic Unit was back on the stand on Wednesday at Dennis Oland’s retrial.
Sgt. Mark Smith concluded his direct testimony, where one area of focus was on what Smith called “impressions” on the floor near the head of Oland prior to the body being removed. They were not noticed when initial photos were taken on July 7, 2011 when the well-known businessman’s bludgeoned body was found.
When asked by Crown prosecutor PJ Veniot what he was looking for Smith said “some shapes that could be related to footwear impressions.” The photos were sent for examination to an Ottawa shoeprint image capturer with negative results.
They were also sent to the RCMP, but those results were not revealed in court at this time.
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Footwear impressions were made of items seized from Dennis Oland as well as a Saint John police officer who helped in the removal of Richard Oland’s body. They were sent for analysis but again results weren’t revealed in court today.
Defence lawyer Michael Lacy kicked off an aggressive cross-examination of Smith by returning to the footwear impressions. Lacy told the court it was the defence which raised the issue in 2014 when they should have been looked at years earlier, suggesting to Smith that he completely missed the footwear impression in July of 2011.
Lacy said to Smith, “You dismissed it as simply being an artifact associated with the removal of the body.” Smith agreed.
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Lacy would return to the beginning of the investigation after Oland’s body was found pointing out that Smith initially was not wearing any protective clothing. Lacy pointed to other issue and then addressed Smith, “There are many things you failed to do that you ought to have done.”
“Correct,” said Smith.
The actions of the Saint John Police Force in connection with how the Richard Oland murder investigation was handled is one of the key issues in this trial. Sgt. Smith is scheduled to be on the stand the entire week.