Witness who came forward after RCMP podcast testifies in Misha Pavelick trial

Nearly 20 years after Misha Pavelick’s death, jurors learn why police felt enough evidence existed to charge a man in his 2006 murder.

Jury members are one step closer to finding out why police felt they had enough evidence to lay a charge after a nearly 20-year investigation into a man who was fatally stabbed at a graduation party.

Misha Pavelick died at a high-school graduation party on May 21, 2006 at a campground near Last Mountain Lake.

One witness, who cannot be identified as she was under 18 years old at the time and is protected under the provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act, told the court she came forward with new information after hearing a police podcast.

In 2021, the RCMP had created a podcast in the hopes of generating new leads.

The witness took the stand Tuesday morning at Court of King’s Bench, telling the court she was with a group of friends driving around Regina Beach while it was dark out. She was a passenger in the van, which was driven by Josh Senkow, her neighbour.

Through Senkow’s testimony Tuesday, he mentioned knowing the accused through a baseball league and recognized him the night of the party.

The group eventually parked at Regina Beach and was approached later by a few people, including the man accused of second-degree murder for Pavelick’s death.

“We were parked in the van, [the accused] came up to the driver’s side where Josh [Senkow] was driving … he was really excited about just stabbing someone,” the witness told the court.

In response to the Crown, the witness added the accused “seemed excited.”

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Another witness who took the stand, Daniel Price, was also in Senkow’s vehicle at the time. He told the court he saw two people who approached them, one showing blood on their body.

“There were three individuals walking by, one female, two males, and Josh recognized one of the males walking by,” Price told the court, referring to when his group of friends was parked at the lot of Regina Beach.

“The three approached Josh, they started talking. The one male who Josh knew admitted to stabbing someone. Then asked if he could turn on the headlights of his vehicle to see if they had any blood on them.”

“The two males sat in front of the headlights to see if there was any blood on them. The one individual that Josh knew didn’t have anything on him. The other individual had blood from his waist down to his knees.”

Through cross-examination the defence asked Price why he did not speak to anyone about that night between 2006 and 2014, until police approached him in 2014. He responded that Senkow spoke to police originally at the time of the incident.

Pavelick’s former girlfriend, friends testify

Pavelick’s former girlfriend took the stand Tuesday afternoon - she was under 18 years old at the time and cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

She told the jury she only became aware Pavelick was at the party through the organizer upon her arrival at the campground. She was travelling with a group of friends which included her boyfriend at the time, Andrew Perkins, and three other people.

The witness testified she was hesitant to leave the campground, since Pavelick made comments to her in previous conversations about “wanting to fight” Perkins. However, she told the court the group still went ahead and entered the party.

She told the court she saw Pavelick near a white truck for the first time that night and approached him to have a conversation with him. She added that she was facing Pavelick while speaking with him.

At some point in the interaction, she said Perkins made his way behind the witness – at that moment she told the jury Pavelick allegedly hit Perkins with a bottle leading to all three of them being on the ground.

“I end up being in the middle, the fight starts happening, I get knocked down,” she told the Crown.

“… I remember being on the ground, someone was on me and it was heavy. I said ‘I can’t breathe’ and I get up, and there’s fights everywhere,” she added, noting there was another fight happening between a group of girls seconds before.

“It looked like multiple fights. I didn’t know if it was the same people fighting,” she said.

At that point, the fight involving Pavelick had stopped. She told the court she was angry at Pavelick telling him, “You were hitting me.”

She added that Pavelick had said sorry, implying he did not know who he was hitting.

The witness told jurors she walked away from Pavelick. Shortly after when she saw Pavelick again, he was on the ground surrounded by a group of boys kicking him.

“At that point I don’t think we knew Misha was stabbed, I knew he was hurt,” she said, holding back tears in the courtroom.

She added that she ran up to him while he was laying on the ground and tried to cover his head. The witness said she first called Pavelick’s dad, then called the ambulance, and stayed with him until the police arrived.

Through cross-examination from the defence lawyer, the witness admitted Perkins did not tell police the truth in his original statement because he was afraid of one of the “boys” involved in the altercation.

The court also heard from the best friend of Pavelick’s former girlfriend.

On the way to the campground party, the witness drove in a group with Pavelick’s former girlfriend, Perkins, and two other people, she told the court.

It was in the car ride where she asked Pavelick’s former girlfriend if she was aware Pavelick would be at the party, telling the Crown “Misha was jealous” of her boyfriend, Perkins, at time.

When arriving at the campsite, the witness told the court she and Pavelick’s former girlfriend were discussing that Pavelick wanted to fight Perkins.

“I was telling Andrew that it’s not worth it to fight him and to just leave it alone,” said the witness.

She added Perkins seemed tense, giving off the impression he did not want to fight, but also felt, “he did not have a choice.”

At the time the alleged fight occurred near the main fire, the witness told jurors she was close enough to Perkins being hit with a beer bottle that pieces of glass hit her, but she did not receive any cuts or injuries from it. She also stated she did not see who threw the bottle, and remembers Perkins left the situation after.

Five witnesses took the stand on Tuesday. The trial will continue on Wednesday.