Lawyer Pans Testimony Of New Stonechild Witness

Thursday, September 13, 2007 at 15:26

A lawyer representing the Saskatoon Police Service is unimpressed with testimony given yesterday in a preliminary hearing for two police officers appealing their dismissal.

Former constables Larry Hartwig and Brad Senger were fired when a provincial inquiry determined they had Neil Stonechild in their custody the night he was last seen alive.

Stonechild’s frozen body was found on the outskirts of Saskatoon in 1990.

Yesterday, the hearing heard a witness give new testimony that a friend of his murdered Stonechild.

The identity of the witness and the person he is implicating can’t be revealed because of a publication ban.

Police lawyer Mitch Holash says any way you look at the testimony, it is “hearsay” and irrelevant to the central issue in the former police officer’s dismissals –- noting they were let go based on the credibility of another witness’ testimony, which was corroborated by police records.

Hartwig’s lawyer, Aaron Fox, says this testimony is relevant because it support his client’s position that he didn’t have anything to do with Stonechild the night he died.

The admissibility of the evidence will be argued when the appeal hearing begins on October 22nd.