Jury shown surveillance tape from night Anne Norris bought hammer, killed Marcel Reardon
Video entered in court Tuesday by the lead investigator in the Marcel Reardon murder case follows Anne Norris's movements the night she met up with him, as well as her footsteps after she killed him.
This was the second day of Norris's first-degree murder trial in Supreme Court in St. John's.
Norris, 30, has admitted to killing Reardon on May 9, 2016, by hitting him repeatedly in the head with a hammer, then putting his body under the steps of her apartment building and disposing of the hammer by tossing it into the harbour.
Her defence argues Norris is not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder.
The Crown is trying to prove that she is criminally responsible — that she intended to kill Reardon, planned it and knew the consequences of her actions.
Const. Ryan Pittman, lead investigator with the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary's Major Crime Unit, showed the jury video of Norris at the Walmart on Topsail Road where she bought the hammer used to kill Reardon.
She is seen trying to leave the store with a cart, without paying, is stopped by security and then makes her way to the cash.
Norris then goes to the North Atlantic gas station outside the Village Mall, where she catches a North West Taxi that takes her downtown to the Ultramar on Waldegrave Street, then up to the area of Shamrock City.
This is where she meets up with Reardon, Jessica Peach, and Kevin O'Brien.
Security camera footage presented by Pittman eventually shows Norris and Reardon near the stairs to CBTG's, a George St. bar.
Pittman identified Reardon by his red sweater. He is seen falling over, as Norris tries to help him up. Another man steps in to help Reardon into a cab. Norris gets in as well. A time stamp shows it was around midnight.
The videos Pittman showed then jump ahead to 2:05 a.m. on May 9. Norris is seen walking near Brazil Street, away from her apartment, alone.
She turns around two minutes later, goes back, and then 30 minutes later is seen again walking away from her apartment, this time wearing a different set of clothes.
Norris meets up with O'Brien, both of them wearing backpacks, and the pair made their way to the harbour. Pittman said this is when Norris dumps her backpack, containing the hammer used to kill Reardon, into the water.
In two videos that show O'Brien and Norris later, only O'Brien is wearing a backpack.
More video from Pittman will be shown to the jury when court resumes 10 a.m. Wednesday.
'Bringing back a lot of memories'
Earlier on Tuesday, the jury heard from the paramedics who responded when Reardon's body was found under the stairs of Harbour View Apartments, and the building's superintendent who called 911.
Mark Whitty, who arrived at the building around 9:30 a.m. on May 9, described seeing a large pool of blood, what he believed to be brain matter, and then the body.
"It's bringing back a lot of memories," Whitty told the court during his testimony, asking for a break.
He told the jury he pulled the red hood from the body and noted "destructive" blunt force trauma to the back of the head.
Jurors then heard from Jack Huffman, who had just recently started working as the building's superintendent.
He first met Norris on May 4 when she applied for an apartment. Through chatting with her social worker, who dropped off a cheque to pay for her apartment, Huffman learned she had just left the Waterford Hospital, a psychiatric care facility.
Huffman described Norris as "extremely nervous" when she came to move in on May 6. She had only three bags of clothing and a teddy bear, and Huffman said he felt "extremely" bad for her, so got her a couch cushion to sleep on and an old blanket to put over her window.
Just three days later, on the morning of May 9, Huffman would be the one to call 911 about the body under the steps.
When Huffman next saw Norris he guessed it was in the hallway on May 10. "I was worried about her," Huffman said, since he hadn't seen her at all that weekend.
When police eventually barred her from her apartment and put police tape up, Huffman didn't suspect the timid and vulnerable young woman he described, but rather was worried about how she would react to the incident.
Defence lawyer Jerome Kennedy read Huffman's own words back to him — statements he made to CBC News on May 16, 2016 — when he said of Norris's arrest that he was "absolutely shocked. Not for one second did I consider that she had been involved."
Court resumes Wednesday morning
New evidence was also entered into court Tuesday morning by the defence. Kennedy had Huffman describe his discovery of a message written on the back of a business card found in Norris's apartment — number 307 — after police had cleared the scene.
"Annie I miss you. I was here 9:30 p.m. Call me sweetie," signed with a phone number, a heart with an arrow, and the name Derick.
The defence has not said why this is relevant.
Justice William Goodridge dismissed the jury of six men and six women shortly after 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, with court set to resume at 10 a.m. Wednesday.
The first-degree murder trial is slated for four weeks.
Follow along with what's happening in court in our live blog.
