More than a year after Shanne McCaffrey says she watched a man attack a female police officer outside a downtown Victoria convenience store, her voice cracked with emotion as she described the scene.
“He just lunged at her,” the Crown witness told the four female and eight male jury as well as B.C. Supreme Court Justice Keith Bracken on the third day of 57-year-old Guy Hervé Séguin’s attempted murder trial on Wednesday.
Const. Lane Douglas-Hunt was investigating a shoplifting case at the 7-Eleven convenience store at 816 Douglas St. on Jan. 17, 2011. Douglas-Hunt, then 24, was leaving the store when Séguin allegedly lashed out at her with a knife.
“I couldn’t believe what was happening in front of my eyes.”
McCaffrey recalled watching the officer, who suffered severe cuts to her hands and wounds to her neck, punch Séguin in the face during the struggle.
“I could see the blood on her hands,” McCaffrey said, stopping for a moment to choke back tears. “She was really cut bad – her hands.”
Crown counsel Steve Fudge and Rome Carot wrapped up their portion of the proceedings Wednesday afternoon by playing a video tape of Victoria police Staff Sgt. Scott McGregor interviewing Séguin the night of the attack.
Court listened as Séguin told the detective he had been trying to defend himself.
“I’m tired of getting beaten by police officers,” he said. “This could have been prevented so easily.”
Meanwhile, in the courtroom, the accused often bowed his head as he watched the tape, at one point removing his glasses to rub his eyes.
On the tape, Séguin refused legal representation because he said it would be pointless.
“I’m never coming out of this place,” he said. “My life is finished.”
In addition to Douglas-Hunt’s testimony on Monday and Tuesday, court heard Crown witness Victoria police Const. Shannon Perkins recall on Tuesday that when she arrived at the scene, Douglas-Hunt and a bystander had Séguin pinned to the ground.
Perkins pulled Douglas-Hunt off the accused after she heard someone say Douglas-Hunt had been stabbed.
“She was in distress,” Perkins told Fudge, adding the younger officer was “mumbling incoherently” and talking quickly, and both of her hands were covered in blood.
“She seemed to be losing consciousness,” she said. “I didn’t know if, quite frankly, she was dying. She just collapsed into my arms.”
Crown counsellors were expected to conclude Wednesday.
Two weeks have been set aside for the trial.
