THUNDER BAY - A woman who attended a party in a room at an Arthur Street hotel on Dec. 6, 2018 told the court that she heard Jonathan Yellowhead make a threatening remark regarding Braiden Jacob.
The woman was called to testify by the Crown on the fifth day of the trial against Yellowhead on the charge of manslaughter for his alleged role in the death of 17-year-old Jacob, whose body was found in the Chapples Park area on Dec. 9, 2018.
A post-mortem examination determined Jacob died as a result of hypothermia, blunt facial trauma, and alcohol intoxication. Yellowhead has pleaded not guilty to the charge before the courts.
According to the witness, she attended the party at the Arthur Street hotel where several other people were consuming alcohol. Both Yellowhead and Jacob were also present.
At one point during the night, she and another woman were in the bathroom with Yellowhead.
“He said he wanted to beat up Braiden,” the woman testified. “I wasn’t okay with it, obviously.”
During the evening, everyone in the hotel room was asked to leave after a window was broken and the woman said she saw Jacob and Yellowhead walking down James Street toward the Limbrick area.
She attempted to follow them because she said she was concerned.
“I was scared Jonathan might touch Braiden,” she said. “I was yelling at Jonathan not to do anything.”
The woman was unable to follow them and was eventually picked up.
Brooke Rogers, co-defense counsel for Yellowhead, questioned the woman about her level of intoxication that night.
The woman admitted she had been drinking heavily and was close to blacking out at several points toward the end of the night before everyone was asked to leave.
She was also asked about a statement she made to police during the investigation into Jacob as a missing person.
“When you first heard Braiden was missing, you told police that he may be hiding out because he didn’t want to go home to his home community?” Rogers asked.
“Yes,” the woman replied.
Crown attorney, Heather Bracken, also called the owner of a Limbrick Street residence to testify on Friday.
Police attended the residence on Dec. 8, 2018, believing it may have been one of the last locations Jacob was known to be before going missing. While at the residence, police observed blood-like staining on the walls and door and seized a backpack that also had blood-like staining on the front.
According to DNA analysis of swabs taken from the door frame and backpack, Jacob could not be ruled out as the contributor of the DNA profile found.
According to the owner, Yellowhead attended the residence but could not say which day, only that it was at some point before police arrived. The only way he described Yellowhead was that he appeared cold.
“I usually let people crash over,” he testified. “Whoever comes knocking and looks like they need a place to stay.”
The owner further testified that Yellowhead’s father picked him up from the residence the next day.
The owner also testified that he had cleaned the walls several days or a week prior to Yellowhead arriving to stay the night.
During cross-examination by defense counsel Neil McCartney, the owner was questioned about his level of intoxication, saying he had been on a bender for several days during that time.
“There might have been other people in and out of your place during this binge?” he asked.
“There might have been,” the owner said.
“You can’t be sure who came and went during these days?”
“Right.”
McCartney then asked about the blood-like staining on the walls and if it could have come from the owner during a fit of rage that he had experienced while drinking before, to which he said it could have.
The trial is scheduled to resume on Monday.
