Accused killer’s son on slain construction firm owner: ‘A great boss’

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ST. THOMAS – Several times, the defence lawyer wanted Boris Panovski’s son to repeat what he said about his father when interviewed by the Ontario Provincial Police.

“Whatever’s on the statement is what I told them,” Tony Panovski repeated each time defence lawyer Margaret Barnes asked.

Barnes wanted the son to say what he told investigators after Donato Frigo, 70, was shot to death at the Hullett Provincial Wildlife Area, north of Clinton in Huron County, on Sept. 13, 2014.

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Tony Panovski told police he had “a hunch” about who might have been responsible for the ambush shooting of the Toronto-area construction business owner and the wounding of his wife, Eva Willer Frigo, 56, while the couple was riding horses and training a field dog.

But “a hunch,” the judge said Tuesday, isn’t evidence and had the potential to send the lengthy retrial down a new rabbit hole that was a “completely collateral” issue about Boris Panovski and his ex-wife.

The retrial, in its eighth week, veered back on course when Barnes abruptly ended her examination of Tony Panovski after she was told what she was angling for added little evidence and could be highly prejudicial to her client.

Boris Panovski, 80, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and attempted murder at the Superior Court retrial that has heard from 40-plus witnesses and seen more than 200 exhibits entered into the court record.

The former high-flying dog breeder and hairstylist was arrested at Pearson International Airport upon arrival from his native Macedonia, a week after the shocking shooting in the quiet wildlife preserve.

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He had a jury trial in Goderich in 2018 and was found guilty of first-degree murder and aggravated assault. He appealed the verdicts and the Ontario Court of Appeal ordered a new trial, citing errors in the original trial judge’s instructions to the jury.

The case was ordered moved to St. Thomas. Boris Panovski changed defence lawyers in April and opted for a judge-alone trial with Justice Marc Garson just before the evidence began May 23.

The Crown’s argument has been the same at both trials: Boris Panovski had a long-standing grudge against Frigo over the renaming of a champion field dog Panovski had sold him, from Panovski Silver to Belfield Silver, after Panovski was shunned from the close-knit field dog world over his arrest at a Georgia event in 2005.

Tony Panovski was expected to be the final witness at the marathon retrial. The court has heard he has been estranged from his father for years and police used his information as part of the basis for a Canada-wide warrant for his father’s arrest.

But it was clear he wanted to be anywhere other than on a teleconferencing call from his construction site trailer to his father’s murder trial.

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Tony Panovski told Barnes he met Frigo through his father and worked for Frigo and Hady Construction for 20 years before leaving for “a better opportunity.”

He left after requesting better compensation for travel expenses, he agreed. He didn’t speak to Frigo again after that and told police Frigo was private about his personal and social life.

“He was a great boss,” Tony Panovski added.

The police interviewed him, he said, because they wanted information about “Don Frigo and everybody else” around them.

He told police he had a hunch about who was responsible. “But I didn’t provide any details . . . I told them I’m fishing myself as well who the person is. We don’t know who the person is, but we have a hunch.”

He agreed he “could have” told police it was someone who looked like him and couldn’t remember if he told investigators it was a male. Barnes supplied Tony Panovski with his police statement.

On reviewing the statement, he told Barnes whatever was written in the police synopsis was what he said. But Barnes wanted the information on the court record, starting the brief, awkward stand-off.

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Eventually, he read what he told police: “I’m aware of a person who has a long-standing grudge against Don Frigo” and “we fear for the safety of our family.”

Tony Panovski explained he told police there “was a bit of an intervention between my father and my mother and shortly after that, they separated.”

That’s when both the Crown and the judge stepped in. Barnes said she wanted to show Tony Panovski had “exaggerated” what happened between his parents and police relied on it too much, adding to her theory of police incompetence in their probe.

Garson said that didn’t matter. “I’m just finding this whole exchange a bit bizarre,” he said. “Having said all that, you’re really going to have to convince me why we are going to now open the lid on whatever did and what did not take place between your client and his ex-wife back in the early 2000s.”

Assistant Crown attorney Elizabeth Barnes argued anything Tony Panovski said is hearsay and if the line of questioning was opened, she would have to call Boris Panovski’s ex-wife about the circumstances of events in 2006.

Garson reminded Barnes he already knew about “the hunch” and “witnesses testify about what they saw and did, not a hunch they said that they shared with the police.”

Nothing about what happened between Boris Panovski and his ex-wife has any relevance to the identification of the shooter and going further could reveal prejudicial character evidence, he said.

After a short recess, Barnes said she had no more questions for Tony Panovski. She asked to be allowed to leave her case open until Thursday, when closing arguments are expected to be heard.

jsims@postmedia.com

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