Routine encounters in 2014 explored in minute detail at trial

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ST. THOMAS – Witness Kursty Allison was trying her hardest to remember the description she gave the police of the man who bought luggage at a Scarborough Walmart where she worked.

For a moment, while she was testifying Wednesday through a teleconferencing link, the former Walmart customer service manager glanced to her left, prompting Boris Panovski’s defence lawyer Margaret Barnes to ask if she was looking at her statement. “I’m trying to find that part,” Allison said.

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“Are you having trouble remembering this event?” asked Superior Court Justice Marc Garson.

“I mean it was 10 years ago, so, kind of. Yeah,” Allison said.

Her answer mirrored the challenges faced by many witnesses who have been called at the retrial of the 79-year-old former dog breeder and hair stylist. Garson had heard from a variety of witnesses, some of whom had lengthy personal relationships with Panovski and others, like Allison, who had fleeting connections with him before or after the date of the shooting at the Hullett Provincial Wildlife Area, north of Clinton in Huron County, on Sept. 13, 2014.

The witnesses are all a decade older and but they are being asked to reach back in their memory banks to recall sometimes fine details about what happened. The case has been a part of their lives for so long that even those who only had a brush with Panovski will slip and refer to him as “Boris” during their testimonies.

Panovski has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder of Toronto-area businessperson Donato Frigo, 70, and attempted murder of Eva Willer Frigo. The Frigos were shot while riding their horses at the wildlife area after the annual field dog trials.

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The Crown is arguing that Panovski held a long-standing grudge against Frigo, a field dog hobbyist, blaming him for his loss of reputation in the prestigious field dog world. After Panovski won two national championships, he was arrested at a Georgia dog trial event and Frigo changed the name of a prize dog he purchased from Panovski from Panovski Silver to Belfield Silver.

Panovski had an eight-week trial in Goderich in 2018. He successfully appealed the verdicts in 2021 and the retrial was ordered moved from Goderich to St. Thomas last year. Just days before a jury was to be selected, Panovski opted to have his case tried by judge alone without a jury.

The case has trudged along since it began on May 23. The Crown has been calling a variety of witnesses and more than 150 exhibits have been filed so far. The defence has been zeroing in on details and fleshing out other details about Panovski and his activities at the time of the shooting.

Allison and another witness called Thursday both had brief, routine communications with Panovski as part of their jobs, likely never expecting they would be testifying about them a decade later.

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Paul Yang was a sales broker for Grey Power insurance and took a six-minute recorded phone call that was played in court from Panovski on Sept. 15, 2014, just before 5 p.m. and two days after the Frigos were shot.

Panovski wanted to cancel all of his insurance. “Cancel everything – car, truck and house, all three. All Oct. 1,” he said in the call that was played in court.  He told Yang he found out from a friend that he could get a cheaper insurance policy by about $200 and wanted all of his insurance cancelled before his renewal date on Oct. 1, 2014.

“You go ahead and cancel now,” Panovski could be heard saying to Yang, with a promise that “if I have to get back I will get back to you.”

Garson has heard that on the same day, Panovski booked a flight to Macedonia, bought luggage at Walmart and that night hopped on a plane to eastern Europe.

Yang said he was trained to try to retain clients and suggested he secure the new policy before cancelling his existing insurance. But, “(Panovski) seemed pretty set on cancelling,” Yang said.

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“He seemed very intent on cancelling so I didn’t want to trouble him any longer,” Yang said. It was the one and only time Yang had any interaction with Panovski.

Allison’s brush with Panovski was even shorter, but her testimony took most of Wednesday.

Allison, who worked at Walmart for more than eight years, with seven at the Scarborough store, did an “over-ride” transaction for a cashier at the jewelry counter who was serving a man, identified by the Crown as Panovski, buying luggage. She had to step in and change the price because one of the two luggage sets Panovski bought was missing two pieces.

The court was shown still photos taken at about 2:30 p.m. by a surveillance camera mounted on the ceiling at the Walmart. Allison, then just 23, can be seen with the cashier on one side of the counter and Panovski, then with dark hair, standing on the other side with the suitcases in a shopping cart.

Allison was asked by assistant Crown attorney Kelsey Good to identify the codes on the store receipt that had a total sale price of $135.48, and the product tags that had been on the luggage.

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She described the customer as middle-aged, with very dark grey or dark hair and standing five feet nine inches or 5-10. She had never seen him before but she said she likely spoke to him because “I’m friendly with everybody.”

But Barnes pointed out that Allison told a police officer during an interview on Nov. 19, 2014, that the man was Caucasian, “kind of older” in his mid-40s or so, and wasn’t too thin or too tall. At the trial in 2018, she said he was middle-aged and wasn’t asked about his height.

Barnes wanted to know why Allison gave a rough height measurement for the first time on Wednesday and suggested by looking at the photos that Panovski was about the same height as Allison, which is five feet three inches.

“I made a guess. I don’t recall how tall the customer was 10 years ago,” Allison said.

“I gave you what I could pull from my memory.”

The trial continues on Thursday.

jsims@postmedia.com

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