Pathologist says Ninette woman was strangled

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This article was published 08/09/2023 (1098 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In the third day of a murder trial, a pathologist testified that the cause of death of the victim was strangulation.

Dr. David Taylor, who performed an autopsy on Catherine Mass, 61, whose body was found by Killarney RCMP wrapped in a tarp in the basement of her Ninette home on March 12, 2021, was the Crown’s seventh witness in the trial that began on Tuesday. Catherine’s son, Nicholas Mass, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder.

On the stand, Taylor testified that Catherine’s body had indicators of blunt force injury to her head and neck. He said that his conclusion as to her cause of death was strangulation. Crown attorney Rich Lonstrup asked Taylor for details on the length of time it would take for someone to die from strangulation. Taylor said that it takes about one to five minutes of pressure to the neck to cause death.

Lonstrup asked what caused the strangulation, and Taylor testified that the injuries on Catherine’s body were consistent with a strangulation caused by hands applying pressure to her neck.

He said that the strangulation was not likely to be self-inflicted because there was no mark on her neck from a ligature.

He also said that if Catherine had died by hanging, there would have been other injuries and her face would have been pale.

When it was time for cross-examination, defence lawyer Saul Simmonds raised concern with Taylor’s evidence, as he did not testify at a preliminary hearing. The defence, he said, had not received disclosure about evidence as to a ligature’s role in the cause of death and any evidence about what caused the strangulation.

The cross-examination was paused to give defence time to consult another expert.

A different pathologist, who testified at the preliminary hearing, is scheduled to testify in the trial.

The cross-examination of Alexandre Morian, a digital forensic analyst with the RCMP who testified on Wednesday, did go ahead on Thursday, however.

During his cross of Morian, Simmonds focused on asking him about the audio recordings found on a phone registered to Catherine. The six recordings, which were timestamped with dates in December 2019, were played aloud in court and depicted conversations between Catherine and Nicholas.

Simmonds asked Morian to confirm specific exchanges that could be heard on the various recordings, including one instance where Catherine says, “You want me dead,” and Nicholas responds “No, I don’t.”

The defence lawyer asked if the recordings could have been edited or parts of it removed. Morian confirmed that the recordings could be altered.

“Therefore we’ll be getting snippets … chosen by whoever [was recording] this?” Simmonds asked.

Morian agreed.

The defence lawyer also asked if Morian would know about deleted recording files. Morian said that he wouldn’t be able to retrieve or be aware of any deleted recordings.

The court also heard the testimony of a friend of Nicholas Mass, who testified that he had hung out with him on numerous occasions.

The friends would do drugs and listen to music together. Screenshots of a text message exchange between the friend and Nicholas on the night of March 11 — the day before Catherine’s body was found — were presented in court.

Around 10 p.m. that night, the friend texted Nicholas to ask him if he wanted to hang out. Before Nicholas replies, the friend finds out that the police are looking for Nicholas’ mom and texts him to tell him that and ask if he is OK.

When he still doesn’t get a response, the friend texts him again: “I’m concerned, if you need anything let me know.”

Finally, Nicholas replies with a message that says that he is in New York.

The friend testified that he knew that Nicholas was lying because Nicholas had asked him if he had any weed just prior.

When asked by Lonstrup if Nicholas had talked about New York before, the friend said that Nicholas talked about putting his music on Spotify to get it out to the world and hoped that one day in the future, that it would be played in New York.

The friend testified that he was worried Nicholas was going to hurt himself, because he seemed down the last time he saw him.

“I thought my buddy killed himself,” he said on the stand when he didn’t hear back from Nicholas again.

A text message from Nicholas the next day asked his friend if he knew any lawyers.

“If you need bail or something, call me,” the friend replied. He didn’t receive a message back from Nicholas.

The text messages were part of a voir dire hearing and at the end of the trial, the judge will hear arguments from the lawyers and decide whether the evidence is admissible.

The court also heard from a neighbour of the Mass family, who testified that Catherine would usually bring jam and snacks to her house for her kids. The neighbour testified that on March 9 — three days before her body was found — Catherine was jittery and said that she was having a bad day.

The judge-only trial is scheduled for eight days and is expected to continue today, with the Crown calling more witnesses.

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