Testimony continues at Gregson trial
Posted Mar 2, 2012 11:03:18 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA -The trial continues Friday in the first degree murder trial of Kevin Gregson. The prosecution is expected to call at least 20 witnesses.
Much of the same is expected by Defence Lawyer Craig Fleming’s cross-examinations which are predicted to remain short and to follow the same vein they did Thursday.
Thursday morning saw testimony from the doctor who tried desperately to save Const. Eric Czapnik’s life as well as the pathologist who performed the autopsy. Thursday afternoon was consumed with testimony from three Ottawa Police Constables who were charged with guarding Gregson on Dec. 29 after he had been arrested.
The day began with the brief cross-examination of Amanda Walkoviak, the third of four paramedics to testify about their efforts in pulling Gregson off of Czapnik. Next her colleague Virginia Warner gave her testimony, establishing that she didn’t see very much because she was the last of the four to reach the scene.
By the time she arrived her partner Craig MacInnes had already jumped on Gregson and pulled him off of Czapnik. She described seeing Czapnik run past her when she was inside calling for help. Said she was “loud, firm and distraught” in her yell for help.
Warner said Czapnik was gripping his neck and there was a lot of blood.
She helped him inside, putting pressure on the would until the lead doctor took over and she said Czapnik was still moving at that point but she wasn’t certain how aware he was.
Warner became emotional telling the court she then left to find her colleagues because she was worried about them.
Dr. Guy St. Hebert, the chief of Emergency Medicine at the Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus was the next to take the stand. He was the doctor Warner described taking over Czapnik’s care.
There was “so much blood everywhere,” he said, describing the process of trying to save Czapnik. He said they had to do a huge blood transfusion but Czapnik was vital signs absent adding at that point there is only a five per cent chance of survival and he and the hospital staff were doing everything they could, pushing for that five per cent.
They opened Czapnik’s chest cavity to see if there were further wounds and also tried to massage his heart by hand in the hopes they could start it again.
He described the measures as desperate saying it was like “trying to recall life to a patient who for all intents and purposes has died.”
Czapnik was pronounced dead at 5:26 a.m.
Hebert then described his interaction with Gregson when he treated him while Gregson was handcuffed to a gurney at 6:45 a.m. He was treating him for apparent neck wounds, 3cm cuts on each side that looked to be stabs rather than slashes. He said surgery wasn’t required so he stitched him up and said he’d be fine. He said Gregson looked despondent.
The next witness to take the stand was Dr. Christopher Milroy, the forensic pathologist who performed Czapnik’s autopsy Dec. 29. He filed his report July 12, 2010, explaining it was delayed because the toxicology results were late and explained his report has been peer-reviewed.
Milroy described Czapnik’s body in uniform showing evidence of significant attempts to revive him that were, “beyond what you would often see.” He attributed that to both the nature of his injuries and his proximity to the hospital.
He explained three vital structures were damaged in the left side of Czapnik’s neck: the left internal jugular vein, the left internal carotid artery and the vegus nerve.
Milroy said there were wounds on both sides of Czapnik’s neck but these were deeper on the left side so he determined the stabbing motion was one that moved from right to left.
“The death of Constable Czapnik was the incised wounds to the neck,” he told the courtroom adding these wounds caused massive blood loss and an air embolism.
He also noted there were no defense wounds on Czapnik’s hands adding that indicated it was likely Gregson’s attack had been so sudden Czapnik had no chance to defend himself.
While he gave his testimony several graphic images were shown and Czapnik’s widow, Anna Korutowska, became visibly upset and was often forced to look away from the screens in the courtroom.
In the afternoon the crown called three police officers to the stand. Constables Gregory Thomson, Carl Dejong, and Jean-Francois Martin. Each had been assigned to guarding Gregson the day he was arrested.
Each recalled him displaying no emotions as he asked a series of questions and made several requests throughout the day. All three officers used “flat” to describe Gregson’s demeanour.
Thompson described Gregson asking a nurse why he didn’t cut his arteries when he inflicted wounds on his neck. She explained it was the body’s defences kicking in.
Thompson recalled Gregson’s question sounded simply” curious,” like “someone on the Discovery Channel.”
He added when Gregson was asked if he knew why he was there, in a procedure room at the Civic Campus handcuffed to a gurney, Gregson replied, “because I killed a cop.”
Both Thompson and Dejong were asked whether the incident had made the news yet, again saying Gregson asked this with the same flat, expressionless tone.
Martin was the officer who took over Gregson’s guard later in the day Dec. 29. He recounted complaints about “the crapper” not working where Gregson told him “I’m going to stink it up.”
He also recalled requests for a blanket or a heater, requests the other two officers also remembered. But Martin was asked in the strangest manner.
“He said, ‘This is not a joke but if I promise not to hang myself, can I get a blanket?'” Martin told the courtroom.
Throughout the day all cross-examination again focused primarily on Gregson’s demeanour.
