Defence finishes presenting evidence at double-murder trial in Moncton, N.B.

The defence in Janson Baker’s double-murder trial in Moncton, N.B., has finished presenting evidence.

After calling two witnesses to the stand Monday morning, defence attorney Brian Munro said he would not call any further evidence.

Justice Cameron Gunn told the jury it was the end of the evidence portion of the trial and then had a message before sending them home for the day.

“This is the important part. Don’t look at anything on the media. Don’t discuss this with your family,” said Gunn.

The jury is expected to hear closing arguments from the defence and the Crown starting Wednesday and then Gunn will deliver his final instructions before deliberations begin.

The trial began on Jan. 6

Stabbing attack

Monday’s proceedings began with testimony from a man who allowed the accused to sleep on his couch during the summer of 2019.

Nathan Wojcicki was living on Preston Cresent in Moncton in the months leading up to the murders of Bernard and Rose Marie Saulnier.

The elderly Dieppe couple were shot and killed inside their Dieppe home on Sept. 7, 2019. Baker has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder in their deaths.

Also living at the Preston Crescent residence at the same time was a man named Zach Trevors.

Trevors previously testified as a key witness for the Crown, saying Baker drove him to the Saulniers’ home the morning of the murders.

Trevors told court he saw Baker inside the Saulniers’ home and later heard a scream and then gunshots.

Wojcicki said he was childhood friends with Baker and Trevors but he had a falling out with Trevors.

“I try to avoid him. I don’t talk to him,” said Wojcicki.

Munro asked Wojcicki about a violent confrontation at a residence the two later lived in after moving out of the unit on Preston Cresent.

“He attacked me one time. He stabbed me with a screwdriver when I was in the bathroom,” said Wojcicki.

Wojcicki said there had been a misunderstanding when he inadvertently sent Trevors’s girlfriend a sexually explicit message.

The witness testified that Trevors pushed him into a bathtub and stabbed him three or four times in the shoulder and head.

Wojcicki said it wasn’t uncommon for Trevors to attack mutual friends of theirs from time to time, and he recalled an act of violence between Trevors and his then-girlfriend.

“There was a time at the Elmwood Motel that I had to pull him off Alicia Mehlenbacher because he was strangling her,” said Wojcicki.

Mehlenbacher, Trevors’s former girlfriend, has also testified in the trial, which is in its eighth week.

Wojcicki said he hasn’t had any contact with Trevors since the stabbing incident.

During cross-examination, Crown prosecutor Brad Burgess asked Wojcicki for more specific details about the stabbing attack.

“You didn’t call the police?” asked Burgess. “You didn’t see a doctor?”

Wojcicki said “no” both times.

Burgess then asked Wojcicki if he knew Baker was unlawfully at large during the time he was staying with him.

Wojcicki said he was unaware.

“He didn’t really have anywhere else to go,” said Wojcicki.

Court heard that Wojcicki gave a statement to police on June 30, 2022.

Burgess asked the witness if Baker had been gone for about a month while he was staying with him, but Wojcicki didn’t recall.

“He kind of came and went,” said Wojcicki.

Burgess said he wanted to “pin down” where Baker was.

Investigator recalled

The defence’s last witness was RCMP Cpl. Andrew Paynter, who previously testified in late January.

Paynter testified he was responsible for sending photos of jewelry to FBI headquarters in Quantico, Virginia.

“You were the one dealing with the FBI?” said Munro.

Paynter said he was given family photos of Bernard Saulnier wearing jewelry, and those were sent to the FBI for analysis along with photos of other jewelry seized during the investigation.

The jury is scheduled to return on Wednesday morning.

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