Richard Oland's cellphone activity dominates testimony

Dennis Oland arrives at the Law Courts in Saint John, N.B. on Sept. 9, 2015. Andrew Vaughan / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

The search for Richard Oland’ s missing cellphone was once again the focus of testimony at the Dennis Oland murder trial Wednesday.

Sylvie Gill, an investigator with Rogers Communications, returned to the stand for a second day.

Gill told the court that on July 9, 2011 – two days after the discovery of Richard Oland’s body – Rogers received a request from the Saint John Police Department.

Gill said calls for assistance with police investigations have become a routine part of the cellphone business.

"Our department often receives calls for life-threatening situations or for missing persons and we have the ability to trace a phone," Gill said.

Gill said police were looking for Richard Oland’s missing cellphone, so Rogers sent out a signal in an attempt to trace that cellphone, something he called a ‘ping’.

What came back from the ping was the message, ‘roaming error’, said Gill.

Lawyers for both the Crown and defence agreed on a statement to the jury on the definition of roaming error which was read by Justice John Walsh.

The possibilities include that the phone was on a foreign network that Rogers has no roaming agreement with, or that the location of the phone can't be determined for unknown reasons.

The next witness was declared an expert in the design and operation of cellphone networks.

Joseph Sadoun was asked about cellphone towers in Greater Saint John and their coverage areas.

The final communication with Richard Oland's missing cellphone was at 6:44 p.m. on July 6, 2011. It was a text from his mistress Diana Sedlacek. The message was relayed by a cellphone tower, not in Saint John, but in Rothesay.

Sadoun was asked about the chances of a call made in downtown Saint John being connected to the Rothesay tower.

"It would be minimal,” said Sadoun. “There would not be a good chance of it."

Sadoun was not asked if that meant the missing phone was in Rothesay at the time of the text.

Sadoun says there are many exceptions, but the general rule is calls are relayed by the closest cellphone tower.

The search for the missing cellphone has dominated testimony in recent days. Both Crown and defence are asking the judge for extra time to review their notes before asking questions to the next witnesses.

Sadoun will be cross-examined on Thursday.

Dennis Oland has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in connection with the death of his father, Richard Oland, whose body was found in his Saint John office.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Mike Cameron.