The prosecutor’s star witness continued their testimony on day two of a Langford first-degree murder trial.
A video the witness recorded from the passenger seat of the car was played to the courtroom and appears to show the accused, 28-year-old Damian Medwedrich, admitting to the shooting while also appearing to try to pin it on the witness who was sitting next to him at the time.
The witness, who is protected by a publication ban, says you hear 28-year-old Damian Medwedrich saying he planned, then carried out the murder of known drug dealer Alex Knatchbell or ‘Pete.’
The video was submitted under voir dire to the judge-alone trial, meaning the judge will decide later if it’s even admissible as evidence.
The recording is secretly taken from the passenger seat, the video camera pointing towards the witness’ lap.
“I didn’t get any money off of him, but it’s done. I’m done, done, done,” someone is heard saying. “I did it, then he crashed the car into the tree.”
The witness says it was Medwedrich speaking for most of it on a phone call to an unknown person. The witness had earlier testified he’d been in Medwedrich’s car, parked on Humpback Road, when he heard shots ring out late at night on Jan. 20, 2020.
Before parking, the witness says Medwedrich had been using his phone while driving to message people to score drugs.
“If they ping his phone, it looks like he did go out there and came back…that’s why I took him out to Sooke. If they pinged his phone, he’d be out in Sooke, and now I’m dropping him off,” Medwedrich can be heard in the video recording the witness took.
The insinuation from Crown prosecutors is that Medwedrich was planning on pinning the murder on the witness, who had testified earlier, outlining his severe learning disabilities.
The witness then testified that Medwedrich told him he’d kill him if he told anyone what had happened. Medwedrich visibly shook his head in disagreement from the prisoner’s box.
Medwedrich’s defence began its cross-examination of the witness in the afternoon. Attorney Sarah Runyon posed to the witness that he also was a known drug dealer in the Langford area who worked with the murder victim Knatchbell. On the stand, the witness denied this.
He maintained he was only a driver for Knatchbell, never seeing any actual drug deal, drugs, or money, only conversations or orders Knatchbell took on his phone while the witness was driving him around.
The defence also began drawing out the witness and Medwedrich’s history as friends who partied together and used drugs together.
Cross-examination is expected to continue tomorrow. Medwedrich remains in custody.
Kori Sidaway
