Hours before he was shot, the victim of an alleged attempted murder was out to confront a noted figure of the city's organized crime scene over a missing possession, the court heard Tuesday.
Bradley Douglas Barr, 35, is accused of shooting Craig Frederick Lyver, 42, with a shotgun on Sept. 20, 2012 while on a 2800-block Northwood Pulp Mill Road property.
Candy Derrata testified that the night before the shooting, she was at Lyver's home, in the 2200 block of Bedard Road, consuming methampetamine with Lyver and Jason Hall a former Renegades biker gang president.
Her friend, Jerry Vukasovic, was also there but did not consume any of the methamphetamine.
She said Hall and Vukasovic left the home in Vukasovic's car at about midnight.
Lyver had consumed "a lot" of methamphatamine and some time later he "started running around his house and looking all over the place and swearing," Derrata said.
When she asked him what was wrong, Lyver said he noticed items missing and asked Derrata if she thought Hall would ever steal.
"And I told him 'well, it's pretty much what he's known for,'" Derrata said.
Deratta subsequently texted Vukasovic, asking if he noticed Hall leave with anything. Vukasovic replied that he did notice an iPhone in Hall's pocket and was told by Hall he just got it. Vukasovic also said he and Hall were at the Renegades clubhouse.
When she relayed the message to Lyver, he grabbed a sawed-off shotgun and five to eight shotgun shells from his bedroom and told Deratta to stay in the home and, under no circumstances, open the door to anyone.
Deratta asked Lyver if he was doing the right thing when told he was going to see Hall.
"I said, 'well, if you're going to talk to him, then why do you need a gun?'"
When Lyver replied that he didn't trust Hall, Deratta said she "kind of agreed with him," but then suggested he wait until he's sober so he can talk to Hall civilly.
But Lyver said he wanted to get the matter over with and left the home. She said Lyver hopped on a motorbike that was apparently owned by Hall because he wanted to upset him.
Deratta stayed behind and periodically texted Lyver and Vukasovic to get updates on what was happening but not getting much of a response.
In an apparent mixup on meeting places, she said Hall and as many as a half dozen others showed up at the home several hours later. As they banged on the doors, Deratta hid inside and waited them out, telling Hall in one text that she was somewhere else.
Deratta was still in the home on Bedard when, at about 3:20 p.m., police were called to the Northwood Pulp Mill Road address where Lyver was found writhing on the ground suffering from gunshot wounds to his right elbow, his right leg below his knee and his left him.
Sometime after that, Vukasovic showed up and when she opened the door for him, several others, including Hall, burst in and began looting the home - taking away a crossbow and some knives and machetes - while she and Vukasovic were told to stay out of the way.
When she asked Hall where Lyver was, he said "'oh, he's probably dead,'" Deratta told the court.
Deratta said she neither knew nor heard of Barr prior to the shooting.
Hall was gunned down March 22 at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Gillett Street. Prior to his death, Hall had been expected to testify at the trial. However, he did testify at a preliminary inquiry and the plan is to admit a recording of that testimony as evidence.
According to a record of admissions of fact read into the proceedings earlier in the day, Barr told a police agent slightly more than a year later that he shot Lyver.
Barr has also admitted to buying three shotguns from a local sporting goods store over a five-day period in July 2012 and had previously purchased a shotgun from the same outlet 11 months before.
Hall's motorbike was found on the Northwood Pulp Mill Road property, the court also heard Tuesday when an RCMP forensic identification specialist took the court through evidence found at the scene of the shooting.
Those items included two knives and six shotgun shells and investigators also came across what appeared to be a target practice area where there were old shotgun shell casings lying about and a sign with the names Lyver, Bradley and Hall written on it.
And inside the entrance of a trailer on the property, a box was found holding mail addressed to Barr. A small marijuana grow operation was also found in the property's garage.
