Accused murderer to testify in murder trial

Article content

The man accused of sexually assaulting and killing Windsor’s mother of a young child at her home three years ago will testify at his murder trial, one of his defense attorneys said Monday.

Commercial

Article content

“He wants to tell you himself what happened that night, in his own words,” attorney Maureen Salama told the jury after the Crown concluded the case for the prosecution.

Jitesh Bhogal, now 31, is charged with murdering 31-year-old Autumn Taggart in her Windsor apartment on June 10, 2018, and will be the next person to testify at her murder trial.

“Not all deaths are intentional,” said Salama, one of two attorneys representing Bhogal before Superior Court Judge Renee Pomerance and a 14-member jury. The trial, now in its fifth week, is scheduled to continue on Wednesday.

Salama said Bhogal will testify when he met with two Windsor residents who promised to secure cocaine for him that night and then consume a few lines inside his vehicle at the location where he was directed to park, next to Taggart’s address at 1382 Wyandotte St. W She said she will testify recalling being in a room “and looking at a woman’s purse. He remembers seeing a woman he didn’t know and hearing her scream. “

Commercial

Article content

The defendant will explain that he covered his mouth with his hand, hoping he would stop screaming, Salama said. He then found himself at his uncle’s house taking a shower.

“He will tell you how he felt, both mentally and physically,” Salama said in the defense’s opening speech.

“He had no intention of killing Ms. Taggart that night.”

Defense experts, he said, will testify about the “impact that drugs may have had” on the events that night. Bhogal, he said, will tell the jury that it was the first time he ever used cocaine. He said his client was a General Motors engineer at the time and had no criminal record.

Salama urged the members of the jury not to forget the principle of presumption of innocence of a criminally accused person until proven guilty.

Commercial

Article content

Monday saw the conclusion of the Crown case, which included dozens of prosecution witnesses over four weeks, and the presentation of more than 230 pieces of evidence.

The latter, on Monday, included June 2018 phone call and text logs for a cell phone that purportedly belonged to Bhogal, as well as photos and video from security cameras from Bhogal withdrawing $ 800 from a TD Canada ATM. Trust before the cocaine deal at a McDonalds. parking lot the night of the alleged murder.

The Crown has claimed that Bhogal drove to downtown Windsor from Michigan that night, met a beggar and subsequently his girlfriend, who promised to buy him cocaine. After the drug deal, the couple with him directed him back to a parking lot next to his crack house. The prosecution alleges that Bhogal parked his vehicle in the adjacent building lot under the balcony of Taggart’s apartment.

Commercial

Article content

Salama said his client “will deny having sexually assaulted Ms. Taggart,” a person whom, he added, Bhogal had never met before.

Among those the jury has heard so far was Taggart’s son, nine years old at the time, who was in his room and testified that he could hear the screams. He discovered his mother’s body in his bed the next day and finally texted his father: “Mom won’t wake up.”

The jury has already heard that Bhogal was scammed twice that night, the first time his initial contact with the beggar allegedly sold him flour made to look like cocaine. And while Bhogal later snorted lines of cocaine in his vehicle after the subsequent McDonalds parking lot transaction, his two co-workers testified that they dived with most of the purchase.

[email protected]

twitter.com/schmidtcity



Reference-windsorstar.com

Leave a Comment