'I'll just try and rob him': Darryl Sheepway testifies at his Whitehorse murder trial

Darryl Sheepway, on trial in Whitehorse for murder, says he had no intention of killing his dealer Christopher Brissonduring a drug deal rendezvousin 2015.

Sheepwaytestified on Wednesday at his trial in Yukon Supreme Court. He has pleaded not guilty to afirst degree murder charge, and has instead offered to plead guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter.

The trial is being heard by Justice Leigh Gower. There is no jury.

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Sheepway admits that he shot Brissondead on Aug. 28, 2015, and later dumped the body in the woods near Miles Canyon in Whitehorse. In his testimony Wednesday, he describedhimself as having been in the throes of a crack cocaine addiction, and suicidal, when he met with Brissonthat day.

Sheepway told the court he intended to kill himself that day, and thought he'd have more courage to follow through if he was high on crack. He arranged to meet Brisson, but he did not have any money.

"That's when I came up with the thought, 'I'll just try and rob him.' I badly wanted more drugs. I was just desperate for more. In hindsight, a very poor plan," Sheepwaytold the court.

'I remember being very scared'

The two men met on McLean Lake Road, and talked to each other from their vehicles.

"I remember being very scared," Sheepwaytestified. "I remember taking a long time to raise the gun, and ask him to give me everything he had.

"I expected that he would be intimidated by the gun and just hand me whatever he had."

Instead, Sheepway said, Brisson immediately grabbed the barrel of the gun and tried to yank it away. Two shots were fired in the struggle, and he then managed to wrestle the gun away from Brisson.

"His truck rolled forward, I leaned out of my truck and fired a third shot into his truck," Sheepwaytold the court.

Sheepwaystruggled to explain what was going through his mind just then.

"I've thought about it a lot. All I know is, I did that, and that was a reaction to what had happened seconds before. I think the only thing I can say is, I wasn't thinking when I fired that third shot."

He said he did not consider that he might kill Brisson.

"As far as I remember, I remember shooting at metal," he explained.

Afterwards, when Brisson's truck had driven off the road, Sheepwaysaid he approached the lifeless body where it lay on the ground nearthe truck. That was the moment, he told the court, that his own thoughts of suicide went away.

"Seeing Chris dead, lying therethat scared me a lot. That panicked me, seeing him lying there dead, and thinking about what I would look like dead."

He said he then noticed some bags of crack lying nearby.

"I remember thinking, 'ohgood, more drugs.'"

Sheepway pocketed them,then figured he should dispose ofBrisson'sbody.

Crack addiction

Sheepway's description of the days and weeks before and after the killing appeared to align with earlier testimony from his former wife. Katherine Scheck's testimony painted a picture of a man leading a double life, maintainingan appearance of stability while secretly fallingvictim to a serious crack addiction.

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Sheepwaytold court he had been a heavy marijuana user for years and had struggled with addiction, and had sought treatment. He was introduced to crack by a co-worker, he said, a few months before Brisson'sdeath.

The drug had an immediateand powerfuleffect on him, he testified.

"I guess I fell in love, instantly ... I thought it was the greatest feeling I had ever had in my life period."

He quickly became a heavy user, he said, and by August was meeting Brisson"pretty much daily" to buy drugs. He said in the weeks before Brisson's death, he was spending$300 to $500 a day to feed his crack habit.

In her cross examination, Crown attorney JenniferGrandy asked how Sheepway was able to maintain a "sober persona" maintaining a job, caring for his family, staying physically active, and looking after a team of dogs while consuming crack daily.

Sheepway replied that he had been doing it for yearsas a marijuana user, and had become a habitual liar.

"I had people all over my life convinced I was sober," he said. "I was lying to everybody."

Still, he disagreed that he had become a "functional" crack user, as he was with marijuana.

"With crack, I thought I was doing a great job at getting away with it. In hindsight, I wasn't."

Sheepwaysaid several times on Wednesday that his memoryofthe days before and after Brisson'skilling has not always been reliable. He says he had lost control of his crack use in those weeks.

"Now I have a lot of things that have jogged my memory or enhanced my memory of that day,"Sheepwaysaid.

"Every time I talk about this story, I generate new memories."

In segregation, Sheepway says

Scheck was in court on Wednesday to watch her former husband'stestimony. It was the first time she'd been back in the courtroom since she testified herself, two weeks ago.

Brisson'sfather was also in court on Wednesday, often sitting with Scheck. Neither displayed much emotion as they listened to Sheepway testify.

In his testimony, Sheepway also described his life these days at Whitehorse Correctional Centre, where he's been in custody for the last 17 months.

He says he's been kept in segregation for the entire time, and his mental health has suffered as a result.

"I feel I've been put in a box and stored on a shelf for 17 months,instead of having any sort of rehabilitation," he said.

"I think I've become far more self-involved, far more narcissistic in my thinking, because of the fact that I'm alone throughout most of my day. I don't have any real relationships with people anymore."

Proceedings resumeon Friday.

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