More witnesses testified on Tuesday on the second-day of the first degree murder trial of Marrissa Bird.
One witness, Joseph Sauve, testified that he went to a house in the 800 block of 17th Street West in August 2017 with a friend for a party. Sauve was a member of the Terror Squad gang at the time but said he is no longer a member.
Defence Attorney Patrick McDougall questioned Sauve about showing up to court with a black hat. Sauve insisted he was not a member of the gang and left when he had a child on the way.
Sauve said he was not aware if the victim, Duane Brett Ledoux, was going to get a ‘minute’ that night. A minute is one-minute beating by other gang members.
Sauve testified he was in the backyard of 17th Street West house that evening when he heard a fighting and arguing and then later, a gunshot. He went inside to see what was going on and saw Ledoux on the ground. Sauve knew Ledoux from school.
Crown prosecutor Shawn Blackman asked Sauve if he saw anyone standing around Ledoux. Sauve said he saw another male and Bird standing near Ledoux and that she allegedly had a gun in her hand.
Sauve testified that he knew Bird as a kid.
Sauve described the gun as a sawed off .22 mm about a foot in length. He said he left the house after this.
McDougall questioned Sauve if he know that Ledoux was going to receive a minute that evening or if it was just a fight that broke out. Sauve said he didn’t know.
The former tenant of the 17th Street West home where the incident occurred also testified on Tuesday.
Gerald Pocha said he lived at the house with two other roommates. Pocha was shown Facebook messages between himself and a profile with the name Gucci Boss. Pocha said that was his Facebook profile but someone else told him to type the messages.
Pocha had trouble remembering the name of the person who asked him to send the messages. Later on in his testimony, he said that it was Joey Sauve who told him to send the message. Pocha said Sauve didn’t tell him why he wanted Ledoux at the house that night.
There was a mix of people from Saskatoon and Prince Albert at his house that night, Pocha said. He said there was about 15 to 20 people there and that he spent the night inside and outside the house worried about the noise.
Pocha testified that he saw Ledoux arrive at the house around midnight with a woman he believed Ledoux was in a relationship with at the time.
Pocha said there was a “ruckus” in the kitchen and also saw Ledoux fall down or get pushed down the stairs and then walk back up.
“It happened so fast,” Pocha said about the night.
Pocha also alleged that he saw Bird spit on Ledoux at one point of the night when Ledoux was on the ground.
Later on that night, Pocha heard a gunshot and saw people run out of his house. In shock, he ran to the back alley and sat there for about half an hour. Pocha did not return home that night.
The next morning, Pocha started walking back to his house where he saw his landlord outside waiting to collect rent. Pocha climbed through a back bedroom window.
Pocha saw Ledoux, who he referred to as Gucci during part of his testimony, lying on the ground. Pocha thought Ledoux was either sleeping or passed out. Pocha testified that he didn’t call the police and didn’t know what to do after finding Ledoux.
The woman who came to the party with Ledoux later showed up at the house and saw Ledoux’s body and started crying and “freaking out,” Pocha testified.
A man and a woman who Pocha described as a couple later came to the house and also saw Ledoux’s body. They told Pocha that he had to leave and left with him. Pocha doesn’t know the couple’s names and testified that they were not at the house that night.
The trial will continue Wednesday morning at 10 a.m.
Ledoux’s body was found in a house in the 800 block of 17th Street West in Prince Albert on Aug. 16, 2017.
According to an obituary, Ledoux died on Aug. 12, 2017 — one day before his 25th birthday. He was a father of two children.
According to PANow and CTV reports, the other three co-accused in the case pleaded guilty last year.
- With files from the Saskatoon Starphoenix
