Defence zeros in on police probe of shooting at dog breeder’s trial

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ST. THOMAS – The tactic of the defence at a former dog breeder’s retrial appears to be to turn the focus away from the accused and put it primarily on the conduct of the police.

The witnesses called Monday at the Superior Court trial of Boris Panovski, 80, were police officers involved in the investigation and arrest of the Scarborough man who has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the death of Toronto-area businessperson Donato Frigo, 70, and attempted murder in the wounding of his wife Eva Willer Frigo, 56, at a wildlife area north of Clinton in Huron County on Sept. 13, 2014.

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Panovski had a jury trial in Goderich in 2018. He successfully appealed the verdicts in 2021 when the Ontario Court of Appeal decided that the judge’s charge to the jury at the end of the case was unfair.

His trial was ordered moved to St. Thomas a year ago. Six weeks before the trial started, Panovski fired his criminal defence lawyer and hired Margaret Barnes, then, on the eve of picking a jury, opted for a judge-alone trial before Justice Marc Garson that began on May 23.

The main challenge at the retrial for both the Crown and the defence has been to ask witnesses to reach back into their memory banks to pull out decade-old memories that, for some, were fleeting moments in time.

But, the police have notes that are disclosed to the defence and Barnes has been asking police officers about the specifics behind the writings.

Her underlying argument has been that the OPP developed tunnel vision once Panovski was a suspect and disregarded other leads.

The Crown is arguing that Panovski had held a longtime grudge against Frigo over the shunning of Panovski in the tight-knit field dog training community after Panovski was arrested in Waynesboro, Ga., during a prestigious event in 2005. Frigo, the Crown contends, changed the name of a champion dog sold to him by Panovski from Panovski Silver to Belfield Silver.

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Up until that point, Panovski had been a high-flying dog breeder who had won two national championships with dogs belonging to wine magnate Gabe Magnotta and was in demand.

Panovski was arrested at Pearson International Airport a week after the Frigos were shot while they were on horseback training one of their dogs at the Hullett Provincial Wildlife Area after an annual event. Panovski told his girlfriend he was going hunting the same day.

Witnesses described a blue Toyota with tinted windows and a suspect wearing camouflage clothing, but could not give a detailed description of Panovski.

Panovski had returned from his native Macedonia after arriving there just days earlier on a hastily booked one-way flight. Before he left, he cancelled his car insurance and gym membership and bought new luggage.

One of the officers who arrested him was retired OPP Det. Sgt. Randy Wright, who was the area crime supervisor. He began his testimony affirming he had reviewed his 39 pages of notes from a decade ago and told Barnes he was not the lead investigator but assisted in the investigation.

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That included notes about other tips. Barnes took him to a notation in his notebook from the day after the shooting  and before Panovski was a suspect about an anonymous tip that came into an inspector.

The call was from a male who sounded middle-aged and didn’t provide his phone number and said someone told him that the shooting was “a hit with a shotgun,” that “the wife was not co-operating” and suggested police had intelligence ahead of time adding that “people should shut the (expletive) up.”

Barnes has been locked in on the OPP’s case management system and questioning whether the procedures were followed properly in the case.

Wright will resume testifying on Tuesday.

jsims@postmedia.com

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