By FARRAH JOHNSON
Tribune Staff Reporter
fjohnson@tribunemedia.net
THE girlfriend of a man who was shot and left in the road to die five years ago told a Supreme Court jury yesterday that he was supposed to attend a family function, but never made it back home.
Samantha Bowles made the statement when she testified for the Crown during the murder trial of Lynette Charlton.
The 48-year-old is accused of fatally shooting Wayne Seymour on December 27, 2015. Prosecutors allege she shot Mr Seymour on Adelaide Road with a handgun, before fleeing the scene in his Chevy truck and leaving him in the road to die.
They further allege that the accused later set Mr Seymour’s truck on fire and abandoned the vehicle some distance away on Unison Road.
During Ms Bowles’ testimony, she told an all-female jury that she and Mr Seymour had been in a relationship since 2013. Ms Bowles said she was at Mr Seymour’s niece’s home on the day in question. She said around noon that day, Mr Seymour came to the Sunshine Park residence to bring chairs and tables for a get-together they were having. She said that although they did not speak at the time, they “bumped into each other” and he “appeared to look normal.”
“He did not stay and I did not see him anymore that day,” she said. “He was supposed to come back to the party, but he never came back.”
Ms Bowles said Mr Seymour had a blue double cab Chevy truck. She also said that although the vehicle was tinted, a person could see the interior of the truck from the outside. She added that she had ridden in the truck on one occasion and could recall that the passenger seat was about three-feet away from where the driver sat.
Yesterday, Analise Eckhoff, an American trace evidence analyst, also testified for the Crown virtually. Mrs Eckhoff said she received a gunshot residue kit “relevant” to Charlton and produced a report based on her findings.
Elaborating on the results of her analysis, she said she found two particles containing barium and antimony on samples taken from handcuffs Charlton wore that were submitted to the Coroner’s Office where she worked in Cincinnati, Ohio.
When questioned by the prosecution, Mrs Eckhoff also said “the presence of primer residue on a person’s hand was consistent with a person discharging a firearm, being in the vicinity where a firearm is discharged or with an individual handling an item with primer residue on it.”
When she was cross-examined, Mrs Eckhoff also said gunshot residue could easily be wiped or washed off. She also said it was easily transferable which made it possible to be transferred if handcuffs from someone with gunshot residue were placed on another individual.
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