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Penticton Apr 18 - 1,784 views
The last witness in the murder trial of John Ike Koopmans testified Tuesday.
Robert Hart told the court about his relationship with the accused and their plans to go into business together.
Koopmans is accused of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of Robert Keith Wharton, 43, and Rosemary Fox, 32, and the attempted murder of Bradley Martin, 50, on March 30, 2013, near Princeton.
Hart described a video of Koopmans' property and the mess of snowmobiles, tractors, machinery, vehicles and auto parts there. Inside, there was also clutter everywhere.
The purpose of the video, said defence lawyer DonSkogstad, was to show how hard it would be to find anything, such as a handgun Koopmans claimed to have cut up at an earlier date.
Hart said Koopmans is calm, well liked and not inclined to bear grudges.
He and Koopmans were hoping to lease the Wharton property for a business in which Koopmans would do welding and Hart's focus would be wooden pellet stoves. Nothing ever came of the idea.
In questioning by Crown counsel Frank Dubenski, Hart said he did not have previous knowledge of Koopmans owning a .357 Magnum.
He said he did not recall seeing Koopmans angry, but that his friend did think Wharton had something to do with a break in at his property.
Koopmans was advised, Hart said, to get all his stuff off Wharton's property so it wouldn't be sold by Wharton, who had a drug problem and was seeing his business go downhill.
There was also one individual, apart from Wharton, suspected in the break in, that Koopmans was afraid of, Crown suggested. The witness said Koopmans was frightened of the man, who was part of a drug cartel.
Hart testified that Koopmans never expressed outright hostility toward Wharton, but was disappointed that he might have been involved in the break in.
The jury was excused by the judge and will be on standby until after the long weekend.
Closing arguments are expected to be heard Tuesday, with the judge's charge on Wednesday.
