Bush party murder trial jury shown knife found in accused’s vehicle

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London police Sgt. Derek Hardman carefully pulled the large knife out of the box where it has been stored at police headquarters.

He took off the plastic that protected it as part of the investigation and then held it up for the jury to see. It was about 40-centimetres long from the end of the handle to the end of the blade. The serrated edge was pulled out of a black nylon sheath.

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Hardman, who was a forensic identification officer at the time of Josue Silva’s death on July 31, 2021, found the knife during his examination of Carlos Guerra Guerra’s 2015 Dodge Journey SUV on Aug. 4, 2021, after it had been taken to London police headquarters.

Hardman, who was testifying at the Superior Court jury trial of Guerra Guerra, 23, and Emily Altmann, 22, said the knife was discovered tucked down between the front passenger seat and the centre console.

Hardman said through questions from assistant Crown attorney Kristina Mildred, he also examined the knife for fingerprints and was able to lift two of them.

It was a short day for the jury at the trial that began with jury selection on Oct. 15 and is slated to last 10 weeks.

Guerra Guerra and Altmann have each pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Silva, 18, a Western University student who was part of a large bush party in southwest London more than three years ago and died of a gunshot wound to his abdomen.

They have also pleaded not guilty to assault with a weapon on Logan Marshall, one of Silva’s best friends.

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The jury already has heard the mid-summer party attracted about 100 young people in a bush clearing off Pack Road and Grand Oak Crossing.

Altmann was there with a group of her friends and was involved in an argument with Isabella Restrepo, Marshall’s then-girlfriend, and accused her of throwing a drink on them. Restrepo has testified she had picked up an open beverage can from the ground and threw it as a joke. The argument escalated until Marshall and his friends stepped in.

Not long after Altmann and her party left the gathering, Restrepo, Marshall, Silva and others received word people had arrived who were looking for them, and they hid in the bush. The jury has seen a surveillance video of Guerra Guerra’s vehicle arriving where Altmann and two female friends were waiting near the entrance to the party.

Two men dressed in black are seen getting out of the vehicle and walking with others toward the party.

Before hearing from Hardman, the jury heard the last bit of testimony from Kaiah Edmonds, 21, who had been in a romantic relationship with Guerra Guerra, an aspiring rapper, and was in the Dodge Journey with him, Dylan Schaap and his girlfriend when they drove to the bush bash after leaving a party near Fanshawe College.

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Edmonds, who was in her third day in the witness box, had testified she believed they were just heading to another party and didn’t know until about 30 minutes into the ride that Guerra Guerra received a call from Altmann, a woman she didn’t know, saying she was going to get “jumped.”

She also saw Guerra Guerra holding a gun and saw a “sword” tucked beside the console of the vehicle beside Schaap’s seat, something she had seen in the vehicle before. She didn’t think there would be anything more than a fistfight.

Edmonds said she saw 10 people come through the long grass. In her testimony during defence cross-examination Monday, she said she saw a young man in an altercation with Guerra Guerra, who was low to the ground, and another young man with them. One of them “took a swing” at Guerra Guerra and missed.

Then, she heard “a pop” before running. She said through questions from Altmann’s defence lawyer Nathan Gorham she heard a male voice tell her to “slow down.”

She said she didn’t think there had been a shooting. “I feel like I really didn’t process it fully,” she said.

During questions from Ricardo Golec, Guerra Guerra’s defence lawyer, Edmonds said she didn’t see anything in Guerra Guerra’s hands and “I’m not sure whether they did or didn’t.”

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Back at the vehicle, after asking Guerra Guerra “if he felt cool,” she said he “looked sad.” Schaap was “hyped.”

In re-examination by assistant Crown attorney Jennifer Moser, Edmonds said Guerra Guerra was low to the ground but not lying on the ground when he was engaged with two men.

She also told the jury she spoke briefly to Guerra Guerra after his arrest when she was on a call to the jail with another friend housed there.

Her friend passed the phone to Guerra Guerra who said, “Hey, it’s your favourite Columbian.”

Edmonds said Guerra Guerra asked how she was and she asked him to pass the phone back to her friend twice.

Earlier in her testimony, Edmonds told the jury a week before Silva’s death, she saw Guerra Guerra cleaning six handguns in his father’s residence.

An agreed statement of facts, read to the jury last week, said Guerra Guerra had access to four handguns in the weeks before the shooting.

Justice Patricia Moore cautioned the jury on Monday that access to guns was circumstantial evidence to be assessed with all the evidence at the trial, but should not be considered evidence of bad character.

The trial continues on Tuesday.

jsims@postmedia.com

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