Barr was upset with Lyver, attempted murder trial hears

Bradley Douglas Barr, on trial for attempted murder, was upset with the man he is accused of shooting, a woman who knew the him testified Thursday.

Ashley Joseph said that sometime prior to a Sept. 20, 2012 incident in which Craig Lyver was shot and left lying on a 2800-block Nechako Road property, Barr, 35, complained to her about Lyver.

"He had enough of him and that he was trying to control his life," Joseph said when asked to recall what Barr had told her.

She said Barr had been living in Lyver's house, located in the 2200-block of Bedard Road, after being evicted from another home.

The court heard in earlier testimony that the two subsequently had a falling out with Barr deciding to move out.

Joseph said Lyver was "trying to own all of Brad's stuff, all of his stuff that Brad was trying to get back," and made note of stereo equipment Barr said was his.

She later said Barr was "emotional" about the situation but added it was not the first time he had been in such a state.

Joseph testified she had known Barr for about four months prior to the shooting and had met him through Jason Hall, the ex-president of the Renegades biker gang who was murdered March 22 when he was gunned down at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Gillett Street.

With her boyfriend sentenced to four years in prison, Joseph said Barr had become someone she came to lean on. The friendship was platonic the court heard, although Joseph admitted she was upset when Barr found a girlfriend and spent less time with her.

Joseph, who said she was "messed up" on drugs at the time of the shooting, went on to give conflicting testimony about whether Barr was a good shot or not after telling the court they had once gone out to shoot broken down fridges somewhere in the Hart.

She initially said he was a poor shot and was "very shaky when I met him."

"In my opinion, if he tried to do something, he wouldn't have succeeded," Joseph added.

But when confronted with a recording of a statement to police in which she said Barr was a good shot, she changed her testimony and broke into tears.

"It's amazing what you say when you're high on drugs for a few years, it's kind of shocking," Joseph said.

"You seem to be emotionally upset at the moment," Crown prosecutor Joseph Temple replied.

"Yeah, it's because I'm clean right now. I've been clean for a few months now and it's not in my nature to do stuff like that, especially when I care about people."

Lyver suffered wounds to his right elbow, right leg below the knee and his left hip that required surgery.

Also on Thursday, the court heard from a woman who had been driving Hall around the city at about the time of the shooting.

Ramona Larrett, who lives on Fir Street across from the Renegades clubhouse, said that during the afternoon of Sept. 20, 2012, Hall had asked her to give him a ride to his car, which had been parked on Central Street since the night before because it was low on gas.

When they arrived at that spot, Larrett said Hall then asked her to drive to a friend's home near the corner of Northwood Pulp Mill Road and Noranda Road, about 1.5 kilometres north of the property where Lyver was found.

She said Hall knocked on the door but there was no answer so he got back in and, because he wanted to get his phone recharged, asked if he could hook it up to her vehicle's cigarette lighter. But the fuse had blown so they went to a nearby convenience store on the Hart Highway to buy another one.

When they got there, they saw a "whole bunch" of police cars and emergency vehicles pass by. That prompted Hall to suggest they drive back to see what happened. They arrived at the same location at Northwood Pulp Mill Road and Noranda Road to find police had blocked the road.

Hall then asked Larrett to take him to Lyver's home Bedard Road in the Hart. When Hall knocked on the door, there was no answer and when he returned to Larrett's vehicle he told her his motorcycle was missing and was "all panicked."

In earlier testimony, the court heard Lyver had suspected Hall of stealing some of his possession during a visit to the home the night before and, to agitate Hall, had taken his motorcycle to go confront him.

Hall was "all panicked" upon finding the motorcycle missing, Larrett said. At that point, Larrett told Hall she had to go home and took him back to his car on Central where she dropped him off.

Larrett brought with her a map of the city with the route they took drawn on it to show the court where they went.

Barr also faces charges of discharging a firearm with an attempt to wound or disfigure and unlawful discharge of a firearm in relation to the incident.

Testimony ended early Thursday so Barr could take police to two shotguns he has said he buried following the incident. The trial resumes Friday.