A woman living in the unit adjacent to Marissa Shephard in December 2015 delivered her testimony in court today.
Helen Patria Mandy lived at 98 Sumac Street with her two children, aged 11 and 7 at the time.
She reports hearing raised voices in the basement during the evening of December 16th, saying “you stole from us and ratted us to the police.”
She then heard the voice of another man, who she believed was the victim being beaten, saying “no I’d never hurt you guys.”
Mandy says the voice she believed belonged to the victim sounded scared, and hurt.
Also, while in her basement, Mandy reported hearing a male voice say “I’m going to shove this down your throat.”
Mandy says later that evening, around 10PM, she was in her basement, and heard loud noises from the adjacent unit (96 Sumac). She heard who she believes is the victim saying “Ow, ow, ow”. Reports hearing someone threatening the victim “I’m going to shove this down your throat”
— Dave Heintzman (@daveheintzman) March 13, 2018
Mandy was so terrified, she told the court through tears, and a shaky voice, she called her sister, who lived nearby, to come over and support her.
Her sister, Marissa, immediately came over, according to testimony she also gave Tuesday, with her boyfriend, and stayed for about an hour before leaving.
Mandy then reports no further noise until after midnight when she heard voices through the wall of her bedroom, when it appeared to be people joking and laughing.
Mandy: “I overheard two male voices when I was in my bedroom before I fell asleep.” Was difficult to hear details, but says one clear word she noticed was a slur against homosexuals.
— Dave Heintzman (@daveheintzman) March 13, 2018
After eventually falling asleep, the next thing Mandy remembers is a loud banging as a firefighter broke her door down around 4 in the morning because of the fire next door.
She grabbed her children and fled the house.
2/2… but adds it was 4:30 in the morning, she was tired, worried about her kids, and didn’t notice a whole lot else about the exterior.
— Dave Heintzman (@daveheintzman) March 13, 2018
The trial will not resume tomorrow because of bad weather but will return on Thursday.
It will be off again on Friday because defence lawyer Gilles Lemieux has another court case to address in another city in New Brunswick.
