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Loretta Saunders’ death six months ago was still fresh for her grieving family as they attended the inquiry into her murder this week.
After justice Anne Derrick called a recess Wednesday, there was an outburst in the court. In an apparent reaction to evidence, one of Saunders’ uncles stood up and made a move toward the benches where the accused, Blake Leggette and Victoria Henneberry, sat.
He didn’t get far. Immediately several family members grabbed him by his arms and around his waist, preventing him from moving. Two sheriffs reacted quickly, holding the man’s arms. The accused were removed through a door at the back of the courtroom.
A woman with long brown hair wearing a pink bracelet and a t-shirt with the victim’s face on it said loudly to Saunders’ uncle, “Don’t let them win, don’t do that. We’re here for Loretta!” Three sheriffs walked him from the courtroom as he yelled, “Get your hands off.”
Outside the courthouse, family offered him support. “It’s gut wrenching,” one woman told him.
The man wasn’t charged but was asked not to return to the court for the rest of the week. A publication ban prevents The Coast from revealing the evidence Saunders’ uncle may have reacted to.
Thursday morning justice Derrick, who previously represented Donald Marshall Jr. during the inquiry into his wrongful conviction, opened proceedings by saying she understood emotions were running high but asked that no one in the gallery comment to either of the accused.
As court took a break for lunch, several of Loretta’s family and friends who who had been on the witness list, including her mother, two siblings and her professor Darryl Leroux, were told they no longer needed to testify. None of them had previously been allowed to watch the proceedings since it could bias their testimony and poison Leggette and Henneberry’s right to a fair trial.
Even after they were removed as witnesses, the justice Derrick said she would have to mull over whether they could be allowed to watch the rest of the inquiry in court. The Crown argued the family and friends should be allowed to watch the proceedings. More than a dozen family members are visiting from Labrador for the inquiry.
The defense voiced concern that allowing the family members to sit in the gallery could still bias them if they were called as witnesses in a trial. The judge agreed that was a fair concern and said she would decide after thinking things over.
The inquiry into Saunders’ murder will go through Aug. 1, which was reserved as an extra day.
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Justice inches forward in Loretta Saunders case
This article appears in Jul 24-30, 2014.
I hope those goofs get offed in prison. Stealing the life of that poor girl makes me sick.
I should really be able to delete my phantom post that wasn’t here at first…now I just seem redundant. 🙁