Footage shown in B.C. Supreme Court Monday from video-surveillance cameras could show murder suspect Cory Daniel Barry immediately before and after the fatal stabbing that led to his arrest, the Crown said.
Barry, 41, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the June 2010 death of 15-year-old Victoria High School student Justin Wendland.
The Crown alleges that Barry stabbed Wendland twice in the chest while Wendland was waiting at a bus stop outside the Times Colonist building on Douglas Street.
Footage from cameras at the Times Colonist building and around the corner at Andrew Sheret plumbing supplies was shown by Victoria police Const. Michelle Robertson, who was a detective with the Major Crime Unit at the time of the stabbing. The sometimes-grainy video shows a figure that Robertson said appears to be a man, along with a dog.
Last week in his opening statement for the case, Crown prosecutor Scott Van Alstine quoted from a statement by Barry in which he said he went to the Times Colonist because he knew there were security cameras there.
Van Alstine said Barry had said he thought he was being stalked and hoped the cameras would be there to record it if he were to get beaten.
Video footage was also shown from the entryway to the Victoria Police Department, where Barry and his dog, a tan-coloured pit bull, appeared shortly after the attack at the bus stop. The stabbing happened around 8 p.m.
Barry was soon ushered inside the station by Sgt. Brad Fraser, then a constable, who said he had enough information to make an arrest a short time later.
“I handcuffed him and arrested him for aggravated assault,” Fraser said in court.
He said Barry was talking quickly and was hard to follow, and he was letting out “a barrage of staccato-like speech.”
Barry said something about people trying to kill him, Fraser said, and also uttered comments along the lines of “I ran straight here” and “I didn’t do it — the DNA cleared me.”
Around 8:50 p.m., police learned that Wendland had died and the charge against Barry was changed to murder.
Fraser said Barry indicated that he understood when he was told about the charges, and that he could speak to a lawyer.
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