Snelson testimony: Day 1

Castanet's Kelly Hayes reports.

Neil Snelson, charged with first degree murder in the death of Jennifer Cusworth, took the stand Tuesday in his defence.

​A packed courthouse listened as Snelson recounted his actions from Friday October 15 and Saturday October 16, 1993.

​He would admitt that the woman he earlier testified to having sex with the night of the party must have been Jennifer Cusworth.

The testimony began with his recollection of how the night began.

He recalled leaving with friends to visit Iggy's night club and then to the party on Richter.

​Snelson said he went inside the party house for a while and then he went outside where he met a girl who went back to his truck with him.

Snelson says they had sex on the seat of the truck, but he does not know who the girl was. He described her as being "heavy or heavier" and about 5'6" tall.

Afterwards Snelson says he and the girl went inside and he never saw her again. He reported he left the party with his friend Bart and two girls, Lynn and Shawna. He says he drove them to their homes and he went to try and find other friends at Denny's but they were not there so he went home.

In 2009 he says he was questioned by two RCMP officers who said they found his DNA on the victim.

It was then, Snelson said, he began to wonder if the girl he had sex with that night might have been Jennifer Cusworth.

"I was hoping the answer was no (that it wasn't mine), but I didn't know if the girl I had sex with was Miss Cusworth."

When asked by his lawyer why he attempted to prevent police from gaining samples of his DNA while under police surveillance, he said he was scared, nervous and angry when he discovered he was being followed.

As well, he again said he "Didn't know if the girl I had sex with might have been Miss Cusworth."

Then his lawyer asked him about the questionnaire the RCMP had given to people at the party and Snelson reiterated how he filled out the document.
On the question, "Did you cause the death of Jennifer Cusworth?" he said he answered "No".

On the question, "Did you take part in the death of Jennifer Cusworth?" he again said his answer was "No".

This concluded the defence's questioning, and after a short recess, the Crown began it's cross examination.

The Crown first tried to determine when Snelson realized that the previously unidentified woman he had sex with might have been Cusworth.

Snelson told the Crown he never thought the girl in question was Cusworth until DNA evidence was collected and the police began questioning him.

Snelson denied that there was ever a specific moment that he went from "never thinking' the girl was Cusworth to What if?.

He also denied ever trying to deliberately evade the police which he observed following him. However, he
did admit he tried to prevent those surveillance teams from obtaining any cast off DNA samples.

The Crown also pointed to two transcripts of phone calls Snelson had made, one to his sister, and another to his father.

Both calls came on the same day in October of 2009, and about four months after he had given his statement about having sex in his truck to police.

During these calls he could only vaguely remember details about the truck, whether he owned it at the time of the murder, whether he took it to the party, and even whether he purchased it on his own or had the ownership transferred to him from his father.

Paperwork showed the truck had originally been owned by his father, but there was some question as to whether or not the signature of Snelson's father, transferring ownership to Neil Snelson, had been forged.

The Crown wanted to determine why Snelson could remember details of the truck in a June statement to police but not when his family asked him about it four months later.

Snelson denied he was deliberately lying to his family, but did not remember the details correctly.

 

The Crown asked him if it would be in his best interests to be as clear as possible about the truck, considering that if he could find a witness to corroborate his story, it would help his cause?

Snelson replied "I never thought about being seen in the truck (that night)."

The Crown then suggested that Snelson did not forgot the details, but was in fact lying to his family, he answered "I disagree. It was a slight exaggeration of the truth."

In the late afternoon session on Tuesday, the Crown continued to try to point out discrepancies in Snelson's testimony.

Snelson previously testified he had never been shown a picture of Cusworth shortly after the murder.

But, in previous testimony from RCMP Cpl Bill Parmar, the officer said that in June of 2009, Snelson stated "They showed me a picture of her and I told them I didn't know her."

Snelson disputed Parmar's testimony, saying he didn't recall saying that to the officer.

Snelson also disputed Parmar's testimony as to where Snelson had parked his truck, but he did remember it was beside a telephone pole.

Snelson also denied ever making the connection between the murder victim at the party and the woman he had sex with, even after he knew police were talking to all involved in the party.

He also said that while he realized at some point the police were after his DNA, he didn't remember when he made that determination, nor did he think they were interested in him in relation to the Cusworth murder.

He later admitted he started to make the connection, but when asked "Wasn't it an important moment in your life when you realized you had sex with the victim? It must have been frightening." Snelson answered he didn't remember what he felt.

Now admitting the woman he met, talked with and had sex with was Cusworth, the Crown again pressed Snelson on details leading up to the encounter and wondered why he didn't remember anything. "It was dark in the backyard, too dark to see anything. To dark to distinguish colours or patterns."

Snelson would insist that he didn't remember specifics or generalities of his conversation, whether anyone may have seen him in conversation with Cusworth, or anything about what she was wearing or looked like.

The Crown then asked why he could remember details about the first woman he had been kissing. Snelson replied, "I don't know. We were closer to the house."

He also testified that he never made any attempt to contact again with the woman he had sex with. The Crown asked if the thought of having unprotected sex might have led him to worry about getting her pregnant or contracting an STD, he said he had not given it a lot of thought.

The Crown's final point of the day was to question his motives for his original description of the woman now know to be Cusworth.

After initially describing her as heavy and 5'6", the Crown suggested he was deliberately trying to mislead the police during his initial interview by providing a description that would not fit Jennifer Cusworth.

Snelson replied "I said what I recalled....16 years later."

Previous testimony said she was 5'10" and 135 pounds at the time of her murder.

The cross examination will continue Wednesday morning.