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Alcohol and drugs were in Tina Fontaine's blood when she died, a toxicologist told court on Tuesday during the trial for the man accused of killing the 15-year-old Indigenous girl.
Raymond Cormier, 55, has pleaded not guilty to a second-degree murder charge in the death of Fontaine, whose body was found on Aug. 17, 2014, near the river's shore north of the Alexander Docks in Winnipeg.
Her death sparked several community-level movements aimed at solving missing persons cold cases and preventing similar deaths. It also ignited calls for a national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
On Monday, the first day of what stands to be a five-week-long trial, Crown attorneys James Ross and Breta Passler told the eight women and four men on the jury that though there isn't any DNA or forensic evidence linking Cormier to her death, they intend to show he had the means and motive to kill Fontaine.
The Crown told court that Cormier wanted to sleep with Fontaine and became angry when he found she was 15.
On Tuesday, court heard from Christopher Keddy, a forensic toxicologist with the RCMP national lab, about samples of chest-cavity fluid taken from Fontaine that he said showed the teenager had a blood alcohol level of 0.099, just over the legal limit, and a significant amount of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, in her system.
A sketch from court Tuesday shows Raymond Cormier watching a witness in Court of Queen's Bench. (Tom Andrich)
But Keddy explained that because of decay, post-mortem distribution — the movement of drugs between tissues, organs and body fluids after death — and because the tests were done on chest-cavity fluid instead of blood, he couldn't say if the amount of the drugs was lower or higher at the time of her death.
Keddy did not test the samples himself; a colleague who is no longer with the RCMP lab did, but he interpreted the results.
Keddy said there was no indication of crystal meth and the presence of cocaine could not be confirmed in the samples. He added the combination of drugs and alcohol was unlikely to be fatal.
The toxicologist was also asked about the presence of gabapentin, a drug designed to treat epilepsy, which is sometimes used for recreational use to treat pain or get a slight euphoric high like marijuana.
A sketch from court Tuesday shows Christopher Keddy, a forensic toxicologist with the RCMP national lab, testifying about alcohol and drugs. (Tom Andrich)
But Keddy said the presence of gabapentin, also called Gabby, wouldn't be picked up by the RCMP tests. It would have to be present in high and "potentially toxic" levels in order to be detected, he added.
Ross told cout that on Aug. 8, 2014, Fontaine had gone to the Health Sciences Centre and told a nurse she had taken gabapentin.
Keddy says there needs to be high levels of Gabapentin to be detectable in the tests done on Fontaine’s blood. Keddy said it would have to be present in high and “potentially toxic” levels in order to be detected.
— @cbarghout
Defence lawyer Andrew Synyshyn asked the toxicologist whether he could rule out that the combination of gabapentin, alcohol and marijuana could be lethal. Keddy responded that he could not.
Earlier in the day, MS River Rouge riverboat captain Alexander Cunningham told court that he was on his boat soon after Fontaine's body was found. MS River Rouge is a boat that is used for tours of Winnipeg's river system.
The boat had travelled along the river from Selkirk, Man., and stopped at the Alexander Docks on Friday night or Saturday morning, Cunningham said. Fontaine's body was discovered on Sunday.
While the boat's log book had been lost, Cunningham said he was certain the boat brought people out onto the water for a cruise on Saturday night.
A sketch from court Monday shows MS River Rouge riverboat captain Alexander Cunningham, who was on his boat just after Tina Fontaine's body was found. (Tom Andrich)
Cunningham was shown pictures from the area around the docks on Sunday when Fontaine's body was found and the captain pointed to the River Rouge docked in the images. He added that the boat was late getting in the river in 2014 because of high water levels and that weekend was the first time they'd been on the water that season.
Cunningham told court that when the boat approached the dock, he would reverse the propellers to stop. In the past, he said the process has brought debris and other human bodies to the surface of the water because it causes "lots of turbulance."
He also told court that the Alexander Docks were extremely dark in 2014 and the only light came from the boats. Occasionally vehicles would drive on the dock or park in the darkness of the nearby shore, he added.
"[People] come down to drink or smoke or neck. I don't know," he said.
Alcohol, THC were in Tina Fontaine's blood when she died, toxicologist testifies1:25
During cross-examination, defence lawyer Synyshyn asked the boat captain whether he watched the shore for debris. Cunningham said he didn't see anything because his concern was what is ahead of him, not what's on the shore.
"There is no reason for me to look for debris around the boat," he said.
Six witnesses, including a fire paramedic and three police officers, took the stand on Day 1 and detailed where Fontaine's body was located near the Alexander Docks and the condition it was in.
Winnipeg police hold up a tarp after recovering Tina Fontaine's body from the Red River in August 2014. (CBC)
On Monday, court heard Fontaine was wrapped in a type of duvet cover that investigators later learned was sold only at Costco. Only 100 such covers had been sold in Winnipeg in the leadup to Fontaine's death, one of which the Crown believes Cormier owned.
Fontaine, at 5-foot-3 and 77 pounds, was weighted down by 11½ kilos of rocks when her body was dumped in the river, court heard.
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