Warning: Story contains graphic details
Richard Oland's killer would have walked away from the gory crime scene spattered with the well-known businessman's blood, a police officer told a murder trial in New Brunswick on Monday.
Const. Duane Squires of the Saint John Police Force said he got a call at 8:52 a.m. on July 7, 2011, to go to 52 Canterbury St. When he arrived, he testified that he noticed a distinctive smell in the offices of the Far End Corp.
"One that I am familiar with," he added. "The smell of a decaying body."
Oland's 46-year-old son Dennis has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder.
Justice John Walsh of the Court of Queen's Bench warned the jury and those in the public gallery that pictures from the office would be graphic. They showed the 69-year-old Oland face-down on the floor, his head and upper body in a pool of blood.
Oland family members didn't leave the courtroom, but some averted their eyes when the more gruesome images were shown.
Squires said he saw a lot of blood spatter in the room and that he, another officer, and a police cadet left after about a minute and were careful not to disturb anything.
"It was obvious to me that the death was suspicious and violent," said Squires.
Under cross-examination, Squires told defence attorney Alan Gold that Oland was clearly bleeding from the head.
"You would expect that whoever did this would have blood on them," said Gold.
Squires replied: "Yes."
"This was up front and close with blood flying through the air," Gold asserted.
Paramedics left after less than a minute in the office as well, Squires said, telling police officers that rigor mortis had set in, and the man had been dead for some time.
Gold questioned Squires on his exit from the office area that leads to an alleyway behind the building. Gold suggested a lack of attention to Squires’ exit.
"Someone has killed a gentleman in this office and presumably wants to escape as quickly as possible,” said Gold. “Would it not occur to the police that this might be the killer's preferred exit route?"
Squires responded that at the time, he was concentrating on protecting the crime scene from contamination.
"Another of the first officers on the scene was constable Trinda Acalduff. She was a police cadet at the time doing on the job training. She and other officers were assigned to look for a murder weapon. They looked in parking lots, construction sites, garbage bins and behind bushes, but nothing was found," said Squires.
Police witnesses also told the court about canvassing the uptown, looking for witnesses and surveillance videos from storefronts in the area.
Earlier Monday, a man who was among the first to arrive after Oland's body was found testified that the first thing he noticed was a "nauseating" smell.
Preston Chiasson was at Printing Plus below Richard Oland's office when the victim's secretary, Maureen Adamson, came into the shop looking for help.
"We both went upstairs and she pointed to where she saw feet and then I go into the room ... and Richard was on the floor, slaughtered," said Chiasson.
Chiasson said he had some CPR training, but it was ‘immediately apparent’ there was nothing he could do.
Veniot told the jury in his opening submission last week that Oland was killed in a violent outburst that resulted in 40 blows to his head and neck.
With files from the Canadian Press and CTV Atlantic’s Mike Cameron.
