Accused in hit-and-run death of Brady Francis told police he thought he hit a deer

The day after Brady Francis was found dead, Maurice Johnson told police he initially thought he had struck a deerin Saint-Charlesthe night before, his hit-and-run trial heard Monday.

But after hearing media reports about a man being killed alongSaint-Charles South Road, Johnson began to wonderif he had hit him, testifiedRCMP Const.Natasha Grimard-Blisle, who took his statement.

The MonctonCourt of Queen's Bench also saw security video of Johnson and his wife buying a pint of vodka and a case of 24 beer from the Co-Op inSaint-Louis-de-Kent the afternoon Francis was killed.

But Johnson told police he wasn't drinking that night and Cpl. Guillaume Larosetestified he found no evidence Johnson had consumed alcohol.

The body of Francis, 22, of ElsipogtogFirst Nation, was found onFeb. 24, 2018, at around 9:40 p.m.

Johnson, 57, of Saint-Charles, has pleaded not guilty to failing to stop at the scene of an accident that caused a person's death.

The trial, which is being held in French at Johnson's request, is scheduled to continue on Tuesday morning.

Grimard-Blisletestified she was dispatched to Johnson's home on Feb. 25, 2018, after his wife called 911. Johnson told the officer he and his wife drove out to their camp the night before hoping to see some friends, but nobody was there andthey weregetting tired, so they decided to head home.

The couple weretalking, and Johnson said when he turned his head to look at his wife for a split second hehit what he believed to bea deer, Grimard-Blisle told the court. Johnson described it as being a blur, but about four feet high.

He said he was driving about 85 kilometres an hour, possibly 95 km/h, and didn't have time to brake because it happened too fast, saidGrimard-Blisle.

About three weeks later, Johnson was arrested at his home. On Monday, the court watched part of the videotaped statement he gaveto theRCMPat the Richibucto detachment on March 15, 2018.

In the video, Johnson is wearing a short-sleeved camouflaged shirt, jeans and white socks, andsitting with his arms and legs crossed.Cpl. Nicholas Potvin, of the major crime unit in Moncton, asks him in French how he and his family are doing.

"It's not easy," Johnson replies in French."This is a young person. This is an accident," he says, then pauses, rubs his eye, andlooks down at the ground.

Family and friends of Francis, who do not speak French, followed the proceedings from an adjacent courtroom where a volunteer from theMi'kmaq communityprovided translation for them.

If I thought it had been a person, I would have stopped.- Maurice Johnson, accused

Francis's mother Jessica Perleyhas said the volunteer is doing herbest, but still can't understand everything being said.

"We're getting bits and parts and then we're piecing it together and we're asking other people that may be sitting in the actual courtroom," Perley hassaid. "So it's frustrating."

Still, the family is grateful to the volunteer, she has stressed.

Francis's parents and advocates had pushed for the province to provide simultaneous interpretation of the trial, butJustice Minister Andrea Anderson-Mason said in December 2018 none wouldbe provided.

A department spokesperson has said the family was welcome to co-ordinate its own interpretation in the adjacent courtroom, which is serving as an overflow room and has a live video feed of the proceedings.

In the video, Potvin asks Johnson if he hit the young man and fled the scene. Johnson repeats what he told the other officer.

He was talking to his wife while driving, turned his head to look at her for a brief moment and when he turned back, all of a sudden, something was on the road in front of his truck. "I thought it was a deer."

Johnson says he looked behind them and couldn't see anything on the road so he thought the animal was safe and had run away.

"If Ithought it had been a person, Iwould have stopped," he tells the officer.

Johnsonsays he and his wife didn't discuss the matter any further that night. When they got home, he watched some TV, got undressed and went to bed, he said.

His videotaped statementwas originally scheduled to be viewed last week but had to be adjourned after Crown prosecutor Pierre Gionet discovered it had not been properly edited.Portions of the tape were supposed to be removed because the judge had deemed the content inadmissible.

Gionetadvised the court he plans tocontinue playing the videotaped statement on Tuesday. It isbetween four and five hours in total, he said.

The Crown has three more witnesses to call and expects to wrap up its case by end of day Wednesday, said Gionet, then defence lawyer Gilles Lemieux will begin presenting his case.

New witness testifies

Earlier Monday, the court heard from the surprise witness who came forward last week in the nearly two-year-old case.

Rodney Steverwasn't asked and never saidin courtwhat prompted him to contact police about that night.

Buthe testified he was driving on Saint-Charles South Road to his mother's house on Feb. 24, 2018, when he came across a dark-coloured SUV blocking the road, about 275 metres from the Saint-Charles store.

A woman told him there was an accident up ahead, emergency crews had been called and he couldn't pass, he said. So he pulled his beige2010 Ford Ranger pickup truck into the driveway of a mini home on the left side of the road and turned back.

The Crown prosecutor showed Stever a photograph of a truck. Steversaid it was the same colour, make and year as his truck, but the rims were different.

The truck in the photograph also appearedto be inmint condition compared to his, which had a black rust paint around the bottom front and around the wheels.

"You can tell that truck from my truck no problem," he said.

29 witnesses so far

The relevance of Stever's testimony to the case was not immediately made clear to the court.

Last week, the court saw security video from the Saint-Charles store of the victimwalking on Saint-Charles South Road on the night he was killed and a tan vehicle passing by shortly afterward.

Under cross-examination, Stever said he wasn't sure what time he was driving in the area but estimated it was between 8 p.m. and midnight.

He said he no longer has the truck, which was sold through a junkyard and crushed.

Johnson owned a grey 2003 GMC Sierra, the trial has heard.

LastFriday, the court heard from a collision reconstructionist who testified he had no doubt Francis was struck by a vehicle, and the damage to Johnson's truck was consistent with a pedestrian being struck, but he could not say whether the damage occurred on the day Francis was killed.

The trial began last Monday and has heard from 29witnesses so far. It is scheduled to continue until Jan. 31.

Justice Denise LeBlanc is presiding.