Two paramedics who responded to Richard Oland’s office in uptown Saint John after his body was discovered testifying at the second-degree murder trial of Richard’s son Dennis Oland.
Phil Comeau and Chris Wall were sitting on Germain Street in the uptown area having coffee when they were called to 52 Canterbury Street the morning of July 7, 2011. When they arrived Comeau says one of the officers told them to “bring everything” however another officer, Constable Duane Squires, then came around the corner and said they didn’t need anything.
Comeau says there was an “odour of death” in the office saying that it’s “one of those odours that kind of lingers in the air and stays with you for a couple of hours.” He checked the body for rigor mortis and says it had set in. He marked the time of “no resuscitation” at 9:01am.
Constable Don Shannon of the Saint John police, who also responded to the scene, being called to the witness stand. He says that going up the stairs there was an odour, “that odour is dried blood.”
He was instructed to do a search of the area for anything he thought could be relevant to 52 Canterbury Street like blood, clothing or any type of weapon however nothing was found.
Under cross-examination by Defense lawyer Alan Gold, Shannon testified he did not investigate a door in the building leading to the alleyway.
Reporter Laura Lyall is covering the trial and is tweeting from the courtroom from her account and the CHSJ News and Wave News accounts.
