In a dramatic end to the first week of the trial for the man charged with second-degree murder in the 2006 death of Misha Pavelick, a witness testified he might have told his friends he killed the victim — but insisted he was drunk at the time.Pavelick, 19, was fatally stabbed at the Kinookimaw campground, about 45 kilometres northwest of Regina, on May 21, 2006. The identity of the now 36-year-old man accused in his death cannot be shared under the Youth Criminal and Justice Act because he was 17 at the time. He has pleaded not guilty.On Friday, a witness told the jury trial at Court of King’s Bench in Regina that he was in the accused’s car the night Pavelick was murdered. The witness cannot be identified in order to protect the identity of the accused. He said he was among two car loads of friends, including the accused, who travelled to the campground to attend the party that night, where more than 100 young people had gathered. At one point, he saw several people run towards a fire and engage in a brawl, he testified.”It looked like a movie,” he told the court. That’s when one of his friends insisted they leave the campground. “Did you stab anybody that night?” Crown attorney Adam Breker asked. “No,” said the witness, who also said he did not have a knife with him that night.“Did anyone try to give you a knife?” Breker asked. “Not that I could remember, no,” the witness responded.The witness said the group, including the accused, left the campground and went to Regina Beach. That’s when they found out someone had died at the party, the witness said.He testified that as the group travelled back to Regina that night, there was a moment when the car stopped at the side of the road. The accused suddenly got out of the car and ran into a farmers field. The witness couldn’t hear what the accused said, but he was yelling, according to the man’s testimony.The witness told the court the accused did not come back to the car for over 10 minutes.’Don’t remember stabbing anybody at all’Defence attorney Andrew Hitchcock questioned the witness about the drive to Regina at length during cross-examination Friday. “You think you found out that someone had died at the party when you were at Regina Beach?” asked Hitchcock. The witness said it was possible that happened when they were at a gas station later that night. The witness also told the court Scott Nelson was the only person he heard say they stabbed someone. Nelson testified at the trial earlier this week. He pleaded guilty in 2007 to aggravated assault for stabbing another partygoer, Derek Enns, on the same night that Pavelick died, court heard.”Do you remember anyone asking you in the car on the way back if you killed someone?” Hitchcock asked the witness. The man said no.Hitchcock asked the witness if he remembered telling the two other people in the car on the way back to Regina that he killed Pavelick. The witness denied he had.Hitchcock then presented the witness with a transcript from previous testimony he gave at a 2024 preliminary hearing. In that transcript, the witness admitted it was possible he did tell his friends on the drive to Regina that he was the one who killed Pavelick at the campground. The witness insisted at the time he only said that because he was drunk and behaving foolishly, the court heard. Hitchcock asked if it’s possible the witness stabbed Pavelick at the campground. “No, I don’t remember stabbing anybody at all,” he testified. Final momentsThe court also heard Friday from two of Pavelick’s classmates, who recalled some of his final moments the night of his death.Derek Enns, who was the other person stabbed on May 21, 2006, had gone out to the campground to attend the annual Miller party and celebrate his girlfriend ‘s graduation. Enns, who was 18 years old at the time, told the court he had been at the campground for three days and didn’t interact with Pavelick much, but knew he was there that weekend. He said they were acquaintances who saw each other mostly at school.Enns testified that on the night of the killing, he was standing behind the campfire when he saw Pavelick further up the road surrounded by a group of people who were swearing, yelling and pushing him around, the court heard. He said Pavelick tried to walk away from the altercation at one point. “They just followed him and started pushing him around again,” said Enns. That’s when he said a second altercation broke out, and it was clear that Pavelick was outnumbered by a group of boys, he testified.Enns went up to a group of his friends and asked for their help in defending Pavelick. He then walked up to one of the boys, whom he had never seen before, grabbed him and pushed him away from Pavelick, court heard.Enns said he was in turn chased down by one of the boys who tripped, attacked and stabbed him multiple times. He said he realized he had been stabbed right after the encounter, and ran up the hill with one of his friends, who then drove him to an ambulance that had been on the way to the campground. Enns said he never saw Pavelick after stepping in to help him that night. He didn’t know Pavelick had been stabbed or died until after the fact, the court heard. Raymond McKay, known then as Raymond McNab, who also testified Friday, said he saw Pavelick arguing with a girl not too far from the bonfire, and noticed Pavelick seemed like he was trying to walk away when he was hit with a bottle and fell to the ground. McKay said he saw Enns run by shortly after to help Pavelick, who was being assaulted by a group of boys. That’s when more people got involved, with Pavelick and Enns both rolling around on the ground fighting, he said.McKay recalled seeing Pavelick up on his feet as people were trying to help him walk to a truck parked nearby, but they never made it.He saw Pavelick on the ground, looking very pale, McKay testified. People had been trying to talk to Pavelick, whose voice was scratchy and very soft, he told the court.The month-long trial, being presided over by Justice Catherine Dawson, continues on Monday.
Witness at Misha Pavelick murder trial blames intoxication for earlier statements about fatal 2006 stabbing
