Wednesday was a short day for the jury at Janson Baker’s double-murder trial in Moncton. The morning began with testimony from Codiac Regional RCMP Const. Michel Martel, who said he worked on the murder investigation from the start. Baker has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of 78-year-old Bernard Saulnier and 74-year-old Rose-Marie Saulnier. The Dieppe couple was shot and killed in their home on Amirault Street on Sept. 7, 2019. According to Martel’s testimony, his main role was to investigate the city and the public’s surveillance videos of vehicles travelling in the area the hours before and after the murders took place and to isolate them. Martel testified that a grey four-door sedan had no lights on and ran a red light. “I was looking for things that caught my attention and that did,” said Martell. On Monday, Cpl. Kelsey Levesque, also a member of Codiac, testified she received a call on Sept. 30, 2019 for an abandoned silver Hyundai Sonata discovered on a Moncton street. The car had been stolen out of Fredericton in June. During Martel’s testimony, a legal matter came up and the jury was sent home for the day. A publication ban prohibits any reporting of what takes place inside the courtroom without the jury present. A Crown witness previously testified that Baker admitted to him he broke into the Saulniers’ home and shot and killed them both. The witness and the accused interacted while both were previously incarcerated. His identity is protected by a publication ban. Several friends and family of Rose-Marie and Bernard Saulnier have attended the trial since it began last Tuesday. For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.
