Audiotapes of a rambling Cory Daniel Barry being interviewed by police took up much of his second-degree murder trial in B.C. Supreme Court on Tuesday.
The 41-year-old had little reaction to the recordings as he sat in the prisoner’s box.
Barry has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the June 2010 death of Justin Wendland. The 15-year-old Victoria High School student was stabbed twice in the chest while waiting for a bus outside the Times Colonist building on Douglas Street.
Wendland’s mother, Raj, has been attending the trial regularly, accompanied by supporters.
Barry showed up at the Victoria Police Department shortly after the stabbing took place. He was arrested on aggravated assault a short time later as information arrived from officers in the field. The charge against Barry was changed to murder after Wendland died of his wounds.
Sgt. Brad Fraser, the arresting officer at the police station that night, identified Barry as the man arrested in 2010, but told Crown prosecutor Scott Van Alstine that he looked much different now.
“I’d almost say 180 degrees different than when I saw him last,” Fraser said. “He’s gained a lot of weight, he looks a lot healthier.”
Barry could be heard chattering quickly and jumping from topic to topic on the tapes. He was sobbing at times and talked about “a group of guys” being after him.
He said he was afraid, hungry and concerned for the well-being of the dog he had with him
“The only friend I have is my dog,” Barry said.
Fraser testified that Barry claimed to have been “hurt in the head,” but said he didn’t appear to have any wounds of note.
Overall, Barry was “very coherent” and followed the conversation, Fraser said, adding that Barry’s reaction to his situation was “unremarkable.”
“I’ve found people to be hysterical for something a lot less than what happened [that night].”
At one point, Barry asked for his Bible, saying, “It makes me happy.” He was a given a different Bible that was at the station.
The Crown theorizes that Barry discarded his own Bible in the compound of the Andrew Sheret plumbing supplies store while on the way to the police station, along with a butter knife, a larger black-handled knife and a lanyard.
The court also heard from Victoria Police Const. Jarret Olson, who was sent to the Andrew Sheret compound the day after Wendland’s death as part of a search detail.
Olson located two knives and a lanyard. The black-handled knife had reddish streaks on it, she said.
She said the streaks had the appearance of blood, but she did not know what the substance was.
