Close X
Saturday, November 23, 2024
ADVT 
National

CJ Fowler: Video Shows Damien Taylor Exhibiting Normal Behaviour Despite His Testimony

The Canadian Press, 08 Oct, 2015 11:41 AM
  • CJ Fowler: Video Shows Damien Taylor  Exhibiting Normal Behaviour Despite His Testimony
KAMLOOPS, B.C. — Jurors at the trial of a man charged with killing his girlfriend have watched video of the accused behaving calmly in the hours before and after the Crown says he committed the crime.
 
Five minutes of video from the Greyhound depot in Kamloops, B.C., showed Taylor sitting at the door, doing little but looking in his backpack.
 
Crown lawyer Iain Currie said that activity shows Taylor acting in “absolutely normal fashion," except that it contradicts the man's account of hallucinating and running from what he believed were his pursuers.
 
Taylor has said he awoke on the grass to find 16-year-old CJ Fowler dead on Dec. 5, 2012. Court has heard she was pregnant.
 
Taylor, 24, is charged with second-degree murder in Fowler's death. He has told B.C. Supreme Court that the week before was a blur of using drugs including crystal meth, cocaine and marijuana.
 
Currie noted Taylor showed no obvious twitches and did not appear hyperactive in the Greyhound video.
 
“I’m going to suggest this is markedly inconsistent with someone experiencing psychosis from crystal meth," he said.
 
But, a forensic psychologist who examined Taylor over eight hours testified that despite his demeanour, Taylor may have been psychotic from days of crystal-meth use and lack of sleep.
 
“He appears calm in that five minutes (of video),” Dr. Sunette Lessing agreed.
 
“Even people who are psychotic can appear calm," she said.
 
Lessing added neither the Greyhound video, nor video from Royal Inland Hospital three hours earlier— when the pair was last seen together — show Taylor behaving in a psychotic manner.
 
“This video would not prove or disprove that,” she said.
 
Lessing also said Taylor told her he was hearing voices, what she described as an attempt to fake symptoms of mental illness. But his accounts of hearing voices during crystal meth use is believable, she added.
 
Hours before dog walkers found Fowler's body near a creek, she and Taylor went to Royal Inland Hospital, where she complained of chest pain, possibly from drug use. Crystal meth was found in her body.
 
While Taylor frequently asked for questions to be repeated during cross-examination and gave conflicting accounts of some of his actions, Lessing said he scores well on most measures of intelligence.

MORE National ARTICLES

Canadian Olympic Committee Examines Harassment Policy In Wake Of Aubut Scandal

Canadian Olympic Committee Examines Harassment Policy In Wake Of Aubut Scandal
Marcel Aubut stepped down after women accused him of harassing behaviour such as sexually charged comments and unwanted touching.

Canadian Olympic Committee Examines Harassment Policy In Wake Of Aubut Scandal

3 Charges Against Man Accused Of Attacking Woman In Wooded Area Of Surrey

3 Charges Against Man Accused Of Attacking Woman In Wooded Area Of Surrey
Helmer Sinisterra-Mosquera faces one count each of sexual assault, assault causing bodily harm and overcoming resistance by choking

3 Charges Against Man Accused Of Attacking Woman In Wooded Area Of Surrey

Canadian Arthur Mcdonald Shares Nobel Prize In Physics For Work On Neutrinos

Canadian Arthur Mcdonald Shares Nobel Prize In Physics For Work On Neutrinos
A professor emeritus at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont. is a co-winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on tiny particles known as neutrinos.

Canadian Arthur Mcdonald Shares Nobel Prize In Physics For Work On Neutrinos

B.C. Wife, Husband Stuck After IRA-Related Refugee Claim Turned Down

B.C. Wife, Husband Stuck After IRA-Related Refugee Claim Turned Down
A former British soldier married to a disabled Canadian woman may be forced to leave their Victoria home for the United Kingdom after a series of missteps and a snarl of red tape.

B.C. Wife, Husband Stuck After IRA-Related Refugee Claim Turned Down

Grieving Family Of British Diver Says Inquest Could Improve Scuba Diving Safety In B.c.

Grieving Family Of British Diver Says Inquest Could Improve Scuba Diving Safety In B.c.
The 27-year-old was swept away by the tidal current and his body was not found for more than seven weeks.

Grieving Family Of British Diver Says Inquest Could Improve Scuba Diving Safety In B.c.

Nearly One In Six Could Not Handle $500 Increase In Mortgage Payment: Poll

Nearly One In Six Could Not Handle $500 Increase In Mortgage Payment: Poll
Another 26 per cent said they would be concerned, but could probably handle it.

Nearly One In Six Could Not Handle $500 Increase In Mortgage Payment: Poll