A key witness took credit for supplying the alleged murder weapon when he testified Wednesday at a trial for a man accused of first-degree murder, backing away from the story he originally gave police in the process.
Wesley Duncan said it was he, and not James Junior Charlie, who scavenged the telephone cord used to strangle Fribjon Bjornson in January 2012 while in the basement of a home of the Nakazdli reserve near Fort St. James.
"I grabbed it," Duncan said during an often-confrontational exchange with Crown prosecutor Richard Fernyhough.
"I don't don't know why, I was drunk and stupid," Duncan added shortly after.
Charlie has pleaded guilty to indignity to a dead body in relation to the steps taken to dispose of Bjornson's body following his death but has pleaded not guilty to participating in the murder.
Portions of statements he gave to police were read out during Fernyhough's cross-examination of Duncan, who in turn consistently said he was not telling the truth when speaking to investigators.
Duncan said he made up the story involving Charlie at the urging of Jessie Bird, another man implicated in Bjornson's death.
Bird had been the subject of a Mr. Big sting in which police, posing as high-level criminals, seek to gain the target's trust to the point where he would provide a confession, under the pretense that if he told them what happened, they would help cover up the crime and become part of their group.
Duncan said he "went along" with what Bird had told him to say even though it was not true. He said Bird was promised as much as $15,000, as well as a truck and an apartment and hoped to help his friends gain a piece of the organized crime pie.
Duncan said he was drunk and on crack and methamphetemine when Bjornson showed up at the #3 Lower Road home to buy drugs. He said he did not remember exactly what happened, adding the basement was dark, but maintained Charlie was not there when the murder occurred.
He said Charlie had left the home in Bjornson's truck when he, Bird and another man whose name is protected by a court-ordered publication ban, turned on the victim and began to beat him up.
"He just took off and he came back and he was [saying] what the f--- did I do?," Duncan said and added Charlie left the home once again before Bjornson was murdered.
In June, Duncan was sentenced to life in prison without eligibility for parole for 15 years for second-degree murder in Bjornson's death, the court heard.
Duncan stuck with his story when an incredulous Fernyhough questioned his credibility.
"You went along with it by implicating yourself and three buddies in a murder, right?," Fernyhough said. "Yeh," Duncan replied.
Following Duncan's testimony, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Ron Tindale told jury members it's up to them to decided which version of events Duncan provided is true. Earlier in the trial, the jury was presented with video from police interviews in which Charlie agreed with police that he gathered the cord used on Bjornson and handed it to Duncan to "finish him off."
Duncan was the last of Crown's witnesses. Defence lawyer Danny Markovitz will let the court know whether he will call any witnesses on Thursday morning.
