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Accused identified as killer |
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Written by Delon Shurtz LETHBRIDGE HERALD
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Thursday, November 19 2009, 9:44 PM |
Only moments after a man assaulted George Shawnee Many Shots, he turned on Percy Panther Bone, punching and kicking his face and body, Panther Bone testified Thursday at a murder trial in Lethbridge Court of Queens’ Bench.
And for the first time since the trial began Monday, Bradley Frances Gray was identified as the man who assaulted Panther Bone and was responsible for killing Many Shots.
“He’s here,” Panther Bone said simply, before pointing to Gray where he was sitting in the prisoners’ dock.
Gray is charged with second-degree murder and aggravated assault in connection with the death of 37-year-old Many Shots, who became the city's second homicide of 2008. Gray is accused of beating the man to death in a back alley in the 1500 block of 5 Avenue North, then assaulting Panther Bone as he attempted to flee.
Panther Bone testified he and Many Shots were walking past a home along 5 Avenue North when they noticed a container of bottles just inside a low, front-yard fence. As Many Shots picked it up, a woman from the house told him to put the bottles down, then called for a man inside the house.
The man told the two to leave and they walked away, crossing the street, but as they walked toward an alley Panther Bone said he heard a noise and turned around to see Many Shots lying on the ground and the man assaulting him. Panther Bone told him to stop but the man came after him as he tried to get away.
“I didn’t make it too far.”
He said his assailant pulled him to the ground and began punching and kicking him. Panther Bone then walked to the nearby home of Albert Spear Chief and laid down on a bed. When he awoke it was to the sound of police who accused him of fighting with Many Shots “to the death.”
“We didn’t have a fight to the death. We were assaulted.”
Under cross examination by defence lawyer Balfour Der, Panther Bone’s evidence started crumbling. While evidence by police and paramedics put the incident at about midnight June 23, Panther Bone said it occurred early in the afternoon. He also contradicted his own testimony given during a preliminary inquiry in January when he said he saw Gray throw Many Shots to the ground. In Thursday’s testimony he said Many Shots was already on the ground when he turned around, and didn’t see Gray throw him down.
During the preliminary inquiry he also testified the assailant had a “brush cut” hair style, but Thursday he told court his hair was longer. Der also asked Panther Bone why he didn’t deny fighting with Many Shots when police accused him of it, but instead waited until the victim had died before telling police he didn’t assault him, after Many Shots could no longer give a different account of what happened.
“I’m not faking it,” Panther Bone insisted when Der said Gray never assaulted them.
Der also pointed out Panther Bone told a doctor at the hospital they had been attacked by a number of people.
When Lethbridge paramedics found Many Shots, he was unresponsive, in critical condition and lying in a pool of blood, court also heard Thursday.
Firefighter and paramedic Chris Tomaras testified Many Shots was bleeding from his face and having trouble breathing when rescue personnel responded to an aggravated assault. When they arrived at the scene of the assault, they found Many Shots lying in the alley, and a “large pool of blood around his head.”
The trial continues today and the Crown is expected to call two more witnesses — a police officer, as well as a friend of Gray’s. The trial will take a break Monday but resume Tuesday with witnesses for the defence.
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