Gun trafficking trial resumes

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This article was published 29/01/2021 (2067 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The trial for a man accused in an alleged gun trafficking ring that spanned from Brandon to Edmonton resumed on Thursday, with more details coming out about the accused’s time in Edmonton.

Mathieu Plamondon pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiring to commit an indictable offence, possession of restricted and non-restricted firearms for the purpose of trafficking and trafficking restricted and non-restricted firearms.

In total, he is accused of trafficking 16 restricted and two non-restricted firearms in May 2018.

The charges are still before the court and the multi-week trial is ongoing.

During the initial days of the trial in December 2020, the court heard how one of Plamondon’s co-accused allegedly stole guns from his father and discussed selling them.

Nicole Harkness, Plamondon’s former partner, said they went to live on a farm in Saskatchewan while the accused was “on the run.” At one point, Harkness said she found hidden guns in one of their suitcases.

After a few weeks, Plamondon’s co-accused and his girlfriend came to pick them up. The plan allegedly became to go to Edmonton to sell 18 firearms to a “one-time buyer.”

The group travelled there and met up with a mutual friend, “Smoky,” who became involved in the alleged operation.

On May 25, 2018, both Harkness and Plamondon were arrested after Edmonton police found a handgun hidden in a pillowcase in a hotel room they had previously stayed in.

Edmonton police also had a wide-ranging surveillance operation of Plamondon going before he was arrested, watching his movements through the city and the people he had contact with.

Crown attorney Adam Gingera showed approximately two and a half hours of surveillance footage from the hotel the group allegedly stayed at to the court, which took place between May 16 and May 17, 2018.

The video showed Plamondon, along with one of his co-accused and Harkness, in the hotel on the day they checked in and the day after. The footage was of them moving around the hotel lobby, elevator and parking lot.

Edmonton Police Service Const. Jordan Veasey identified the people in the video based on the clothes they were wearing, the way their carried themselves and their stride.

Over the course of the footage, the man the constable said is Plamondon is seen carrying a red bag over his shoulder into the hotel, along with the three other people.

Plamondon is later seen on video at various times on May 16 with two unidentified men in the hotel.

Defence lawyer Tara Walker raised issue with Veasey’s identification of Plamondon in the surveillance video. She questioned him on how familiar he was with Plamondon. Veasey said he knew him from interactions at an Edmonton police station and through video footage.

Veasey also admitted the quality of video shown in court was poorer than what he had seen before.

Walker raised the issue with Veasey that police didn’t find any physical evidence in the hotel room that would connect him, such as fingerprints on the pistol allegedly found in the room or a piece of identification.

She also argued the video footage didn’t show all the entrances and exits to the six-storey hotel, nor video of people entering or exiting the actual hotel room the gun was found in.

While the trial was originally scheduled to resume on Wednesday, the continuation was delayed until Thursday after an issue prevented Plamondon from being transported.

The trial is scheduled to resume today as Crown attorneys Gingera and Ari Millo continue to call witnesses.

» dmay@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @DrewMay_