Brother of accused killer held for 'investigative detention' night of stabbing

The police went into high-gear quickly the night Clifford Comerford, 41, was stabbed in a van in Mount Pearl in January2015.

On the stand Tuesday at the Supreme Court murder trial in St. John's, Const. Justin Parsons told the court he received a call at 9:12 that night. A 911 call to police was about 10 minutes earlier.

Parsons said he went to the Greenwood Crescent incident scene in Mount Pearl and was told the suspect, Raymond Stacey, 25, was seen fleeing on foot heading east.

Parsons said he and another officer, in a cruiser, started searching along nearby Topsail Road, and saw a running manjump a snow bank.

They went after the man, thinking it was Raymond Stacey.

Parsons said they caught him in the parking lot at Mount Pearl Square,not far fromStacey's mother's house.

The officersordered the man to stop, read him his rights and cautions, and detained him. Parsons saidthe man didn't have identification, but told him he was SherlockStacey.

The officer saidthey searched Stacey, and found only a cellphone.

He saidStacey used it to call his mother.

Parsons saidthey learned from Stacey, that his brother, Raymond was back at their mother's home.

The constable saidthey drove there, but when they arrived other officers already had Raymond Stacey in custody.

Parsons said that the suspectwas put in the back of the police car, and read his rights and cautions.

Hetold him they were investigating an assault with a weapon. When asked if he wanted a lawyer, Ray Stacey said yes.

He saidthey then took himto RNC Headquarters.

Earlier Tuesday, Cst. Kevin Morgan with the RNC's K-9 unit testified that he was off duty, but called to the scene the night of the stabbing.

Morgan said he arrived with his police dog Edge. Hewas told that the suspect, Raymond Stacey, had left the van on foot, heading east on Greenwood Crescent.

Morgan said because the area immediately around the van had so many human scents, he started his search about 15 feet behindthe van, and headed east. He said there was one fresh set of tracks in the snow.

He said Edge followed the scent between two houses on Greenwood Crescent, numbers 60 and 62.

Morgansaid he and Edge came upontwo dogs that wanted to play with Edge. He said it was about there where they lost the scent, and stopped the search in that area for the time being.

It would turn out that spot was very near Stacey's mother's house.

Morgan said he took Edge across Topsail Road and searched garbage cans in the parking lot of Mount Pearl Square for a weapon, but found nothing.

He testifiedabout ten minutes later, he went back to the other side of the street, and an officer was getting the attention of someone in a window of Stacey's mother's home.

Other officers testify

Morgan said the officer was invited in, and minutes later came out escorting Raymond Stacey.

He said after that, he and Edge searched the area for a knife, but, again, found nothing.

Two other officers were also on the stand Tuesday.

Sgt. Hubert Hall said he was the liaison with Rovers Search and Rescue which wasbrought in the day after the stabbing to search for a weapon. Hesaid they didn't find one.

Const. Gwen Stacey told the court she was the second officer on the scene the night Comerford was stabbed.

She said there weremenoutside the van where the stabbing had taken place, andthey were placed in police cars.

The constable said she could see blood dripping out the back of the van. She said she looked around for a weapon, but not extensively because officers from the criminal investigation unit were on the way.

She did noticethat there was a significant amount of blood on the rear, bench seat of the van.