Several police officers and a loss prevention officer took to the stand Wednesday in the murder trial for a Peterborough-area man accused of shooting his wife in a Home Depot parking lot in 2018.
Wednesday’s witnesses included several Peterborough Police Service constables who attended the scene following 911 calls of a reported shooting in the lot along Lansdowne Street West.
Const. Andrew Hatton testified he was the second officer on scene and noted that by the time he arrived, Finn was already handcuffed and being escorted to a police cruiser by another officer.
Hatton said he saw a woman in Finn’s vehicle with a gunshot wound to the left side of her head. He also testified some windows were rolled down, there were two small dogs in the back of the car and a gun was resting on the hood of the car.
On Tuesday during cross-examination of an eyewitness in the parking lot, Finn asked if the individual had noticed two small dogs in the backseat of his vehicle.
Hatton told the court that his primary concern was for public safety, testifying there was a loaded revolver on the vehicle’s hood. Designated as the “scene security” officer, Hatton said he noted any officer who entered the established perimeter.
Const. Adam Moher, who took the stand after Hatton, testified that while en route to Home Depot, he heard there was someone in custody. He was tasked with looking for witnesses and went into the store to track down surveillance footage.
Const. Brian Urquhart then testified he travelled with paramedics to Peterborough Regional Health Centre with Sandra Finn in the moments after the shooting. He says he was told an Ornge air ambulance had been ordered to transfer the woman to a Toronto hospital. He said that at 10:17 a.m. the woman was put in the air ambulance and arrived at Sunnybrook about 30 minutes later. At 10:55 a.m. Urquhart entered the trauma room with Finn and said at 11:01 a.m., Sandra was pronounced dead.
Sanmuganathan testified that he was met by police when he arrived at the store and immediately began gathering surveillance footage from the store’s CCTV system.
That footage was expected to be played in court late Wednesday afternoon.
More to come.
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