Accused killer said he shot victim 4 times, Crown's key witness tells jury
Witness testifies he was with Riley Phillips on day Joedin Leger was killed
A man on trial for murder told others he had shot a Moncton teenager four times, the Crown prosecutor's key witness testified Wednesday.
The witness said he was among a group of six people who went to Joedin Leger's Moncton home two years ago planning to rob him and his girlfriend of money, drugs and vape products.
The witness testified on the 15th day of the jury trial of Riley Phillips, who is charged with second-degree murder. It's alleged Phillips killed Leger in Moncton on April 25, 2022.
The 20-year-old witness cannot be named because he was under 18 in April 2022.
The witness said he was standing outside Leger's Logan Lane duplex with Phillips, Hayden Leblanc and Nicholas McAvoy. He said he heard a sound like a door being kicked in, followed within seconds by four to five gunshots inside the duplex.
The witness said he looked inside the door and saw Phillips jumping down the stairs. The group ran back to a waiting vehicle, where Phillips showed what the witness described as a gunshot wound.
"'The f--ker shot me. But it's OK, I put four in him,' something along those lines," the witness recalled Phillips saying.
The man was the 24th witness to testify during the trial, and the first to directly place Phillips at the scene of Leger's death.
The witness said his involvement began the night before, April 24, 2022, when he called Leblanc looking to buy cocaine. He testified Leblanc asked if he wanted to make some money by taking part in a robbery.
The witness said he met with Leblanc, McAvoy and brothers Hunter and Jerek England, and they formed a plan to rob Leger and his girlfriend, Chantal Boudreau. The witness said he had a vague idea of where the pair lived because Boudreau's son had told him a few days earlier.
The witness said they borrowed a friend's Honda Civic for the night to carry out the plan. They drove to the home of the England brothers' father in Irishtown, north of Moncton, to get a .38 calibre revolver. The witness testified the gun was loaded with six rounds when they left the Irishtown home.
Early on the morning of April 25, the witness said he and Leblanc, McAvoy and the England brothers drove around the north end neighbourhood where they believed Leger and Boudreau lived. They were looking for her Chevrolet Cobalt. When they spotted it, they approached the home and looked inside, concluding they had the right house, he said.
"Somebody came up with the idea of getting Riley, so we went to get Riley," the witness testified.
At Phillips's grandparent's home on Ryan Street in Moncton, the witness said Leblanc spoke to Phillips around 5 a.m. but Phillips didn't want to go with them yet.
"'I'm on a curfew, wait until 6 a.m. when my curfew is up,'" the witness recalled Phillips saying.
The group returned later, and Phillips was handed the loaded gun in the car on the way to Logan Lane. The witness said Phillips was wearing a black motorcycle helmet.
Hunter England was driving and parked the Honda Civic on a side street near Leger's home, the witness said. The witness, Phillips, Leblanc and McAvoy left the car and went up to Leger's duplex, he said, while the England brothers remained in the car.
"Riley kicked the door in, shots went off, we left," the witness testified. He said he didn't see Phillips go inside, hear any conversation, or see anyone else inside after Phillips fled the home.
Under cross-examination, the witness said he believed the first shot he heard sounded like a .22 calibre round being fired. The jury has heard Leger had a homemade gun found by police in the kitchen with a spent .22 calibre casing in the chamber.
Once the four were back in the waiting Civic, he said they drove off and were followed by another vehicle, the witness said.
Earlier in the trial, a man named Linus Dunn testified that he had followed the Civic, after he watched four people run across the street in front of him while he was driving to get a coffee. Dunn said he noted the licence plate and gave the information to police later that morning.
In the Civic, the witness testified Phillips showed the group "a bullet hole" in his right hand. He said someone in the car took off clothing and wrapped it around Phillips's hand.
Medical records entered as evidence last week show Phillips was treated at the Moncton Hospital on April 26, the day after Leger's death, for a gunshot wound to his right hand. He had follow-up visits at another hospital, where records indicate there was a bullet in his hand.
After leaving the Logan Lane area in the Civic, the witness said the group parked the car in a garage. The jury has already been shown photos of a Civic seized by police from that garage after Leger's death. The witness said he went into hiding for several months before police arrested him in Moncton.
Last week, a pathologist testified that Leger was shot three to five times. A firearms expert testified earlier in the trial that a bullet recovered from Leger's body during the autopsy was matched to a .38 calibre revolver.
The witness testified that at the time of the shooting, he had been using cocaine and had been drinking. Crown prosecutor Stephen Holt asked the witness about his level of intoxication, and he responded he was "fine."
At several points he told Holt he couldn't remember some details, such as specific words said by others, because two years had passed.
After the lunch break, Holt showed the witness a revolver entered as an exhibit in the trial and asked if he recognized it.
"I don't think that's the same gun," the witness said.
The witness told Holt he got involved in the robbery plan because he wanted money. The witness said he sold drugs between the age of 15 and 18.
Witness was selling drugs to students
Under cross-examination by Phillips's defence lawyer Wednesday afternoon, the witness said he was selling drugs to high school students at the time.
Brian Munro asked a series of questions challenging the motivation of the witness and his statements to police. Munro suggested the witness only began to co-operate with police after he was caught and charged with first-degree murder in connection with Leger's death.
"Maybe I just want to help the family that's been victimized," the witness responded. "I made a mistake."
The witness said he pleaded guilty to manslaughter last year.
The day ended with the witness refusing to answer a question about whether a friend had firearms. Cross-examination is expected to resume Thursday morning.
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