The examination of Dennis Oland’s vehicle after it was seized being talked about at his murder trial at the Saint John law courts with a forensic identification officer testifying that he was looking for any evidence that could be tied to Richard Oland’s murder including documents and blood.
Sergeant Mark Smith of the Saint John police says he used several different substances on the Volkswagon Golf looking for blood but despite some weak and very weak results – as he put it – from the Hemastix, there was nothing.
He seized various receipts, documents and papers from the vehicle. He also seized a red grocery bag from the trunk. The husband of Richard Oland’s secretary has testified about seeing a man walking into 52 Canterbury Street at 5:20pm on July 6 – the day before Richard Oland’s body was discovered in his uptown Saint John office – saying the man was carrying a red tote bag.
Smith stated that before this, a bag was seized from the Irving on the Marr Road in Rothesay that contained a drinking cup from a fast food restaurant along with packaging from a restaurant however he did not elaborate on why that was seized.
The defence started cross-examining Smith at the end of the day on Tuesday with defence lawyer Gary Miller taking him through blood spatter stains in Richard Oland’s office. Miller asking Smith “there can be very little question that this was an exceptionally bloody crime scene, correct?” to which Smith replied “correct.” As well, Smith agreeing with Miller that there was blood radiating out 360 degrees from Richard Oland.
The trial resumes on Wednesday morning at 9:30.
CHSJ News reporter Laura Lyall is covering the trial and is live-tweeting the proceedings. You can follow along on her Twitter page, or the CHSJ News and Wave News Twitter pages.
