The defence at a Burnaby murder trial accused a police witness of putting on a "show" for the jury by using the victim’s first name during his testimony Wednesday.
Ali is on trial for first-degree murder in the death of a 13-year-old girl found dead in Burnaby’s Central Park on July 19, 2017.‘She’s a human being’ Urmson used the girl’s first name while describing arriving at the place in the bush where her body was found. Under cross-examination, Ali’s lawyer Kevin McCullough asked Urmson why he was using the victim’s first instead of last name during his testimony since he hadn’t known her.“I’m going to suggest to you … you’re doing that intentionally as part of a show for the jury, right?” McCullough asked.
“I’m going to suggest to you you’re taught at RCMP school to do exactly that — when you get on the stand in front of the jury, use their first name to humanize this. Aren’t you taught that?“You’re telling the ladies and gentlemen of the jury that you haven’t been told to use the first name of the deceased when you’re giving your evidence to try and humanize them,” McCullough said.McCullough kept up this line of questioning until the Crown raised an objection.