Crown wraps up case in Saint John murder trial, defence calls no evidence

Jurors in a Saint John murder trial have heard all the evidence they're going to hear.

After calling 20 witnesses over three weeks, the Crown closed its case on Monday morning.

Defence lawyers for the two accused men — Charles Shatford, 49, and Donald Walker, 52 — called no evidence.

The 13-member jury was asked to come back Oct. 15 for closing arguments. Justice Darrell Stephenson is scheduled to deliver final instructions to the jury on the morning of Oct. 16. Once that's done, the jurors will begin deliberations.

Shatford and Walker are charged with first-degree murder in the death of 39-year-old Justin Breau on Aug. 17, 2022. Both have pleaded not guilty.

The trial began on Sept. 16 and heard direct evidence from a number of witnesses. It also heard from both of the accused in the form of taped police interviews and a number of phone calls.

In a recorded police interview played for the jury during the second week of the trial, Charles Shatford identified himself and Justin Breau in this image taken from video surveillance at the Waterloo Street Tim Hortons on Aug. 17, 2022, just a few hours before Breau's death. (Court of King's Bench/CBC)

Of all the witnesses, Breau's girlfriend, Megan Ross, spent the most time testifying. She was present for the stabbing, although much of her testimony consisted of terse answers with very few details.

After being reminded by prosecutors multiple times about the details she originally provided to police, Ross repeatedly answered "I don't know" or "I don't remember."

In the witness box, Ross said she didn't remember talking to police about 40 minutes after Breau's stabbing.

In that interview, which was played for the jury, Ross said three masked men burst into the couple's Charles Street home and immediately began stabbing Breau.

Although she said she couldn't identify the men, she said all three of them were armed with knives and all three stabbed Breau.

The jury heard that less than an hour after that interview, a police officer was at the hospital informing Susanne Breau of the death of her son, when Ross walked into the room.

Donald Walker is on trial for first-degree murder in the death of Justin Breau. (Court of King's Bench/CBC)

Det. Const. Duane Squires and Laurett Nwaonumah, a civilian member of the police force, both testified that when Breau started asking Ross questions about what happened and who did it, Ross immediately said "Donnie Walker."

Squires and Nwaonumah both testified that Ross immediately tried to take that statement back when she realized other people were in the room with her and Susanne Breau.

Over two days of the trial, the jury also watched a series of videotaped interviews with Shatford, whose brother, Mark, was shot to death by Breau in 2019.

In two particularly lengthy interviews conducted after his arrest in January 2023, Shatford began by denying any role in Breau's death, despite surveillance camera footage that contradicted his story.

Over the course of more than six hours, Shatford made small admissions followed by denials that he had been near the crime scene.

The officer persisted and repeatedly confronted him with photos and forensic evidence contradicting his story.

Shatford said Breau 'went crazy'

Eventually, Shatford admitted he was in the apartment and stabbed Breau at least twice.

He maintained that he did not conspire to kill Breau and that he did not take a knife to the apartment.

He said Breau immediately "went crazy" when they walked in. He said Breau attacked Walker, knocking Shatford to the floor in the process. Shatford said when he was finally able to get up, he grabbed something that turned out to be a knife and stabbed Breau.

The jury also saw a series of photos taken from security cameras around the uptown and north end that showed the movements of five men and two vehicles in a brief period of time before Breau's stabbing.

They also heard about a series of phone calls between several people in the hours before the stabbing — some of whom met up at Walker's north end home just before the two vehicles were seen in the area of Breau's Charles Street apartment. The vehicles parked nearby and several people could be seen on video walking toward Charles Street minutes before Breau was stabbed, and away from the apartment immediately after.

Jurors also heard from a witness who said he was on the receiving end of a phone call from Walker on the afternoon that Breau died. Chris Reid said Walker asked him for help beating someone up. Reid had to be reminded that when he first talked to police after Breau's death, he told them Walker said the intended target was Breau.