Two more charged with first-degree murder in Saint John

Two more men have been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Justin Breau last summer.

On Thursday afternoon, Donald Robert Walker, 50, and Dustin Trey Walker-Hammond, 24, were charged with first-degree murder.

A day earlier, a third man, Charles William Shatford, 47, was also charged with Breau'sfirst-degree murder.

The Crown objected to the release of all three, so they will remain in jail until after bail hearings can be held.

On Thursday, Walker and Walker-Hammond were both ordered to have no contact with each other and with Charles Shatford and Evan Tobias. So far, there is no indication of who Tobias is and whether he's directly involved in the case.

Walker and Walker-Hammond will be back in court on Feb. 9.

Charles Shatford, meanwhile, is scheduled to be back in court on Feb. 10.

Breau, who was stabbed to death in his Charles Street apartment after three masked men broke in on Aug. 17, 2022, was found not guilty in December 2020 of murdering Shatford's brother, Mark.

At trial, Breau admitted shooting Mark Shatford outside his west side apartment on Nov. 17, 2019, but said he did so in self-defence after a drug deal went awry.

In his closing remarks to the jury, Crown prosecutor Patrick Wilbur said the shooting was the result of "a drug ripoff gone badly wrong." He said Breau went to 321 Duke St. West with two other men with the intention of robbing a drug dealer.

Wilbur said Shatford fought backand chased Breau from the apartment.

• Justin Breau found not guilty in drug-related shooting death

Breau testified that he thought Shatford was going to kill him. He said he happened upon a shotgun in the backseat of the vehicle he had borrowed, grabbed it and shot Shatford in the abdomen.

Shatford underwent numerous surgeries to repair hundreds of holes in his internal organs but died a month later in hospital.

"Mark Shatford died a slow, painful, miserable death, almost a month later," Wilbur told the jury.