Bush bash homicide trial: Defence challenges key witness’s account of shooting

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Jessica Falardeau recalled in her testimony the two masked men who showed up to settle a score were different in stature.

The driver of the white SUV was tall and slim. The passenger was shorter and heavier, with a braided beard peeking out from under his mask.

And she has testified at the second-degree murder trial of Emily Altmann, 22, and Carlos Guerra Guerra, 23, that she watched both men first start punching one young man along the path into the bush bash, then split off when another young man stepped in to help his friend.

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Falardeau was standing just metres away and has testified the passenger was the one straddling the man who had stepped in to help after getting him to the ground. She testified it was he who pulled the pistol out of his right pocket and shot the man while sitting on him.

The jury has heard during the trial that the driver was Guerra Guerra and the passenger was Dylan Schaap. What they didn’t know until this week is that Schaap has already pleaded guilty to manslaughter, but not as the shooter, for his part in the death of Western University student Josue Silva, 18, and is awaiting sentencing.

So the question from Altmann’s defence lawyer Nathan Gorham for Falardeau was whether the wrong man was on trial.

“Is it possible that Dylan Schaap has rode off into the sunset, being permitted to plead guilty not as the shooter, but just a guy that went, to manslaughter? And now Mr. Guerra Guerra is on trial on an allegation that he was the shooter when in fact, you’re the one who knows it was Dylan Schaap,” Gorham said.

Or, he asked during the intense cross-examination of the Crown witness, is it possible Falardeau was wrong about who the shooter was, suggesting that if she was sure then it was possible that “a wrong man is on trial” and that Schaap “has been permitted to walk away.”

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“I’ve given you my description of who I have seen,” she said.

There were moments Tuesday morning when tears were forming in Falardeau’s eyes while Gorham picked away at her testimony, suggesting at one point that she and her sister had concocted a story to steer suspicions away from them as the instigators of the violence.

Altmann and Guerra Guerra have pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder of Silva, who died of a single gunshot to the abdomen, and not guilty to assault with a weapon, namely a blunt object, of Logan Marshall, Silva’s close friend.

The jury has heard that what had been a mid-summer teenager gathering in southwest London turned to chaos after a drink was thrown and masked men were summoned to avenge the insult.

Falardeau is the first witness at the trial who has testified she saw the shooting in the early morning of July 31, 2021. She has also testified Altmann knew the people she summoned to come settle a dispute had a gun.

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Falardeau was only 15 when she tagged along with her sister, Jamie, and her friends to the bush bash that had attracted more than 100 young people. While standing with the group by the large bonfire, someone threw a can that hit Falardeau’s sister and grazed her, with the liquid hitting them as well.

She has testified that she was not bothered by the event but Altmann confronted the young woman she believed threw the can, sparking a heated argument. She described Altmann repeating the phrase, “I’m going to shoot you,” several times to the woman Falardeau referred to as “can girl.”

Falardeau is the only witness who heard Altmann say that. The jury has already heard Isabella Restrepo admit she was the one who threw the can and gave her description of the argument.

Restrepo’s then-boyfriend, Marshall, who Falardeau called “can girl’s boyfriend,” and his friends stepped in and escorted Altmann, the Falardeau sisters and their other friends out of the party. Altmann, Falardeau said, was yelling, “you’re gonna get shot,” as they were leaving.

She also said Altmann made calls once they returned to her car and told the women she was with that someone was coming and that they were bringing a gun.

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It was with that knowledge that Falardeau said she returned to the party with Altmann, the two masked men and their female passenger who showed up and her sister, watched the men appear to be looking for people who were hiding, then, just as they were leaving, confront a group of boisterous young people coming down a path.

Falardeau said she heard a female voice say she recognized one of the people coming along the path before that young man was set upon by the two masked men. That devolved into two fights when the other young man – the one who would be shot – stepped in.

Falardeau pushed back on Gorham when he suggested she was “scared” after the incident because she and her sister were part of the plan.

Falardeau stood by her evidence. “I wasn’t scared because I knew I had nothing to do with it.”

The cross-examination continues Tuesday afternoon.

jsims@postmedia.com

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