Accused upset, fearful after bush party shooting, friend testifies

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The video played for murder trial witness Mackenna Bain showed her talking to a London police officer about a week after Josue Silva was shot to death.

By then, Bain already had made a couple of police statements. In the first one, she didn’t talk about anything beyond an argument over a spilled drink and her leaving the bush party along with Emily Altmann and the rest of their friend group.

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She lied because she was scared, she said earlier in her testimony, after Altmann read a texted threat within minutes of the shooting, that told them to keep quiet.

In the second statement, she came clean about before and after the shooting.  The third statement shown in court Tuesday added more details.

She told the officer one of the women in Altmann’s group that night told her the name of the ”guy” Altmann called that night when she was itching to fight at the southwest London bush bash was named “Carlos” and he was Altmann’s ex-boyfriend.

She also told the officer Altmann was distraught when she returned to the car after the shooting and was repeating over and over, “I can’t believe he shot him. I didn’t think that was going to happen.”

Bain told the officer Altmann was “freaking out” and said, “I didn’t tell them to do that, like, I just told them to fight them.”

Altmann’s defence lawyer Nathan Gorham, who cross-examined Bain on the statement, said those utterances from Altmann were “a defence for murder.”

Altmann, 22, and Carlos Guerra Guerra, 23, have both pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Silva, 18, a Western University student who died of a gunshot wound to the abdomen on July 31, 2021.

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They also have pleaded not guilty to assault with a weapon of Logan Marshall.

The Superior Court jury trial, slated to last 10 weeks, is in its fourth week. The jury has heard how animosities were sparked over a thrown drink at the mid-summer party, that Altmann made calls and texts to people to help settle the beef and Silva was shot after emerging from hiding with his friends.

Bain finished her testimony Tuesday, her second day in the witness box, almost entirely in cross-examination. At issue for Gorham, as it has been in questioning of other witnesses, has been trial preparation meetings the Crown had with its long list of witnesses before the trial.

The Crown sent letters to witnesses advising them their contact information had been sent to the defence and while the decision was up to them whether they wanted to meet the lawyer, they could be cross-examined about what they said. Gorham suggested Bain had been influenced by the Crown about her decision not to speak to him, but she disagreed.

“I was just going to wait until court and say it then,” she said. The letter didn’t scare her into not talking to the Crown but she was concerned about meeting with the defence.

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She said she didn’t think the defence would attack her in questioning, but lawyers “are good with words.”

“You’re a lawyer. You’re smart,” she said to Gorham.

Bain also said the Crown meetings were mostly about general information about the trial process and “nothing about that night was ever discussed.” If she couldn’t remember something while testifying, she said she was told not to guess.

When re-examined by assistant Crown attorney Kristina Mildred, she said the most important point to come out of the meetings was “to tell the truth.“

Bain said she was told that “10, 15, 20 times.”

Gorham asked Bain about the drink-throwing incident. Bain said she was “embarrassed” by the initial argument between Altmann and Isabella Restrepo, the woman accused of throwing the drink, and wanted no part of it. She agreed, after reviewing the video statement, she walked out of the party with friends Maya Pluchowski and Jessica Falardeau, the younger sister of her friend Jamie Falardeau.

Altmann, Jamie Falardeau, Lina Latif and her boyfriend were behind them as they left.  In the video statement, she said Altmann was walking backward and yelling at Restrepo, Marshall and his friends, saying “Why . . . did you do that? What . . . is your problem?”

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Bain said Altmann told Restrepo and friends she wanted to fight them and “I’m going to get you guys jumped.”

Bain agreed with Gorham she never heard Altmann say, “I’m going to shoot you,” as she was leaving, something Jamie Falardeau told Bain her sister said she heard.

“I didn’t hear it,” she said.

In the video statement, Bain said the group walked to Altmann’s car, with Altmann still upset and saying she “wanted to fight them” and she was “going to call this guy and I want him to fight” the people at the party.

Bain said they were concerned they were being followed by Marshall and his friends. Altmann drove the group around the block briefly and came back to the parking spot where Altmann and the Falardeau sisters left the car to return to the party for a fight.

It was upon their return that Altmann was “freaking out.” Gorham suggested to Bain, and she agreed, Altmann was “upset, emotional, crying” and “looked shocked.”

Later in the video statement, Bain told the officer Altmann was upset, drunk and driving. Bain was trying to calm her down.,

“She just kept driving us… She was just freaking out. She just wanted to go and sit down for a minute,” Bain said in the video.

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And she said Altmann said, “They shot him. He was on the floor and just saw him shoot him and immediately started to run. And she really didn’t say anything else. She just kept screaming and just saying over and over again, ‘He shot him. He’s going to go to jail. I’m going to go to jail. I don’t need this.’”

She told the officer she “wasn’t sure who shot him.”

Gorham asked her about the initial pact made between the women not to tell police everything and if she felt like she had done something criminal. Bain paused. “I think, yeah. I knew about it. I didn’t call the police. I didn’t say anything and then, I lied.”

Gorham said she was lying because she didn’t want to be shot. “Based on everything Emily said to you led you to believe the same thing: she didn’t expect this to happen, but she didn’t want to be snitching someone out and maybe get shot by the same person who had just shot someone else,” Gorham suggested.

“Yes,” Bain said.

The trial continues on Wednesday.

jsims@postmedia.com

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