Discrepancies Heard During Martinot Inquest
Thursday, June 01, 2006 at 15:10
The inquest into the shooting death of 38 year old Shaun Martinot at a hotel in La Ronge continued today presenting several apparent discrepancies in testimony given by the Emergency Response Team and the evidence at the scene.
According to detailed testimony given by the Incident Commander, Staff Sgt. Gary Barkhouse, who was ultimately in charge of the 17 hour standoff on August 29th, 2004, and an Emergency Response Team member— three recognizable gunshots were heard inside Shaun Martinot’s room, one of which was allegedly visibly shot across the hallway by ERT members. During cross examination, it was learned that forensics only found 2 shell casings at the scene and no signs of bullet holes in the wall across from Martinot’s room.
The ERT, which arrived in La Ronge and took over at 5 pm, said Martinot refused to communicate, throughout the standoff, with RCMP. Phone records presented during the cross examination found that Martinot was in fact trying to communicate and call family members, his girlfriend, and his AA sponsor, Kirby Woodhouse, several times before he was killed, but wasn’t allowed to by the negotiators and Barkhouse.
Barkhouse also testified that when an ERT robot was sent in to assess the situation, Martinot shot it. He went on to say, 15-20 seconds later, several gunshots were heard, and an ERT member called for an ambulance, stating Martinot was shot and presumably dead.
Martinot’s family, once again, reacted with great frustration during today’s testimonies. One juror was also dismissed from the panel, because of a family emergency.
Testimony continues tomorrow.