THUNDER BAY - With the Crown’s case concluded, counsel on behalf of Jonathan Yellowhead called two witnesses to testify as part of his defense.
The Crown rested its case Monday morning on day six of the manslaughter trial against Yellowhead for his alleged role in the 2018 death of 17-year-old Braiden Jacob of Webequie First Nation. Yellowhead, of Eabemetoong First Nation, has pleaded not guilty to the charges before the court.
Prior to closing, the Crown played a videotaped interview conducted by Det. Const. Andrew Johnstone of Thunder Bay Police Service with another individual who was initially believed to be a person of interest in the Jacob investigation.
The interview took place on May 3, 2019 and the individual was 17-years-old at the time.
The youth told Johnstone that he and a friend were at the Victoria Inn on Dec. 6, 2018 where a bunch of people were drinking.
“[Jacob] was drinking with a bunch of people at Victoria Inn,” the youth said. “I guess he was wanting to fight my buddy. But then we ended up backing off from it because we didn’t want trouble with the law. So we went about our own business and went back to P.A.”
The youth added that he did not want to go drinking with everyone and felt ‘sketched out’ because there were ex-gang members he was associated with there, including Yellowhead.
“He tried putting a number on me. Like a hit. Like killed or something,” the youth said, adding it was because he dropped out of the gang.
“Do you know Jonathan to be a pretty violent guy?” Johnstone asked.
“I believe so,” the youth said.
He was also asked about another girl at the party and if she was his girlfriend.
“No, she was like my best friend,” he said. “But I lost my trust with her. She was trying to say that I did that to that Braiden kid and I was like: I never did that. I was at the Holiday Inn when that stuff went down.”
Defense counsel, Neil McCartney, called two witnesses to testify on Monday, including Yellowhead’s father, Norman Yellowhead.
According to Norman Yellowhead’s testimony, on Dec. 6, 2018 he was called by his nephew telling him he had to pick up Jonathan Yellowhead at a residence on Limbrick Street.
The Limbrick Street residence was part of the investigation into the disappearance of Jacob, as it was initially believed by investigators to be the last place Jacob was seen.
Previous witnesses testified that Jacob and Yellowhead were seen walking toward the Limbrick Street area in the early morning hours of Dec. 6.
When searching the Limbrick Street residence, police observed bloodlike staining on the walls and door. Jacob could not be ruled out as the contributor to a DNA profile found from swabs of the bloodlike staining on the doorframe, as well as a backpack found inside.
Norman Yellowhead said his son was still sleeping in the basement when he arrived and he woke him up.
“I picked him up and looked at his hands right away and checked his body out right away,” Norman Yellowhead told the court. “They told me there was a fight in Victoria Inn and glass shattered and blood there. So I checked him out right away.”
Norman Yellowhead added that he did not find any injuries to his son’s hands or body.
Jacob’s body was found on Dec. 9, 2018 in the Chapples Park area. According to testimony earlier in the trial by a forensic pathologist, Jacob died as a result of hypothermia, blunt facial trauma, and alcohol intoxication. His injuries were also said to be consistent with someone having been in a fistfight.
The second witness called by McCartney was Thunder Bay Police Service Det. Kenneth Biloski, the case manager on the Jacob investigation.
Biloski told the court that on Dec. 8, 2018, investigators received a tip that Jacob may have been spotted around the Canada Games Complex earlier that day.
The witness was not 100 per cent sure it was Jacob and could not provide a clothing description but said it ‘could be a pretty good chance it was him’ after being shown a photo of Jacob by police.
However, investigators did not attend the Canada Games Complex until Jan. 12, 2019 and by then any video surveillance of the area was no longer available.
Biloski was also one of the officers who travelled to Eabemetoong First Nation to arrest Yellowhead on Dec. 14, 2018. He was asked about the state of Yellowhead’s hands but Biloski said he was too far away to see them when he was being processed as part of his arrest.
“Did you ever receive information that there were injuries to the back of his hands?” McCartney asked.
“One of the other officers viewed a video from the airport when he left Thunder Bay believed to see injuries to his hands,” Biloski said.
Closing submissions from the Crown and defense are expected to be heard on Tuesday.
