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Witness testifies not afraid of Boivin

The woman in cabin number one took the stand in the Crown’s case Wednesday morning.

This is a continuation of a second degree murder trial in Quesnel Supreme Court. For previous coverage check online at www.quesnelobserver .com or in past issues of the Observer.

The woman in cabin number one took the stand in the Crown’s case Wednesday morning, stating she never felt threatened by Albert Boivin throughout the evening.

“Were you afraid of him? [Boivin]” Crown asked.

“No,” the woman replied.

“Did he threaten you at all?” Crown said.

“No, just general name calling,” the woman answered, adding it was not uncommon for Boivin to call her names.

Boivin’s body was found July 22, 2009 outside the brown cabins on Lewis Drive. Upon arrival at the scene RCMP arrested Ken Price initially for aggravated assault and later on for second degree murder.

Crown asked the woman (the only witness to the event) her accounts of what transpired that evening.

The woman testified herself and Boivin were drinking and doing drugs when Price arrived. Price and the woman left to buy booze, returning shortly to Boivin’s cabin where all drank and “chatted.”

At one point in the night Boivin suggested sexual contact between the woman and Price.

The woman testified when both she and Price denied the contact, Boivin became angry.

“He wasn’t very happy about that,” she said.

The woman testified she was “very drunk” but said she remembered going into Boivin’s bedroom where she heard the two men arguing in the living room.

“I could see them wrestling a bit,” she said.

“Next thing Albert is falling into the bedroom door and bleeding.”

The woman said she attempted to stop the bleeding with a shirt she found on the bedroom floor, when she couldn’t she said she went to a neighbours to call 911.

Defence questioned the woman on how well she knew Price. The two had been family friends for close to 20 years.

“Ever known him [Price] to be a violent man?” defence asked.

“No,” she answered.

“Ever known him to have a temper?”

“No.”

“Ever known him to carry a knife?”

“No.”

“Didn’t you witness Boivin beat up your boyfriend over a drug debt?” defence pursued.

“Yes,” she answered.

“Didn’t you once see him chase a man with a machete?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’m going to suggest you were afraid of him,” defence said.

“No, not really,” she answered.

Defence also inquired about the mood in the cabin prior to the incident.

“Fine,” she replied.

“So everyone is getting along until you refuse Boivin. You refuse him sexual favours and he gets angry.”

The woman agreed.

“And Boivin’s not the guy you want angry,” defence said.

“No,” she replied.

Defence also pointed to the woman’s testimony of Price and Boivin fighting for approximately “20 minutes” in the living room.

“Do you see all the bottles standing upright on the coffee table?” defence asked, referring to a photograph taken by the investigators post incident.

“Yes,” she said.

“There’s nothing out of order in that room,” defence said.

In the 2010 preliminary inquiry the woman testified she remembered at one point in the evening Price saying “Leave her alone, Albert,” but could not be certain when it was said.

Crown wrapped up its case Wednesday. Thursday defence began, calling a man to the stand who testified he used to work for Boivin.

 

The man testified he was a “chronic crack user for 12 years” and worked as a “door-man” for Boivin in the brown cabins for about a year in 2007.

 

The man explained he would watch the door, answer the door, see who it was and see how much “product” they wanted.

The man testified Boivin’s residence was “wall-to-wall” weapons, specifying knifes, swords and baseball bats.

“You name it, he had it,” the man said.

The man also testified Boivin would trade sexual favours for crack.

“But he wouldn’t always give them the rock after they were done,” he said.

“He would smack them upside the head and throw them out the door.”

The man also testified he witnessed Boivin drag women into his bedroom.

“He’d grab them, throw them in his room and have his way with them,” he said.

When asked if he had ever had an “altercation” with Boivin the man said he had been “head-butted, a gun held to his head and grabbed by the throat.”

“Did you ever do anything to provoke him?” defence asked.

“No,” the man answered.

Crown questioned the man on his criminal record; he noted “one or two charges of assault” and a marijuana possession charge.

“And what did you do when Mr. Boivin had his way with these women?” Crown asked.

“Absolutely nothing,” the man replied.

“What was I supposed to do?”

 

Next defence called Robert Marsh to the stand, who visited Price at the Quesnel RCMP detachment, July 23. Marsh testified he visited

with Price for “about 10 minutes.” Marsh said he noted “marks” on Price’s neck.

 

“It was red,” he said.

“He looked bruised up.”

Crown’s next witness was Michelle Daniels, Price’s common-law-wife. Daniels visited Price at the Quesnel RCMP detachment July 24.

Daniels testified she saw Price for about five to 10 minutes and was “shocked” at his appearance.

“I said, ‘Did they take pictures of you?’” she said, adding she noted Price’s face and neck were swollen and there were marks on his neck.

 

Crown questioned Daniels on Price’s drinking habits. Daniels said he would not drink in front of her but she suspected he had been

drinking the night of the incident.

 

Daniels also testified she had heard Price mention Boivin’s name before.

“He indicated that’s where he was going that night,” Crown suggested.

“No,” Daniels replied.

Last to take the stand is Price, followed by closing arguments. Check Friday’s Observer for more.