Bradley Barton trial: ex-trucker accused of killing Cindy Gladue takes stand as defence begins case
Author of the article:
Jonny Wakefield
Publishing date:
Feb 02, 2021 • 17 hours ago • 4 minute learn
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Warning: this story contains details some readers would possibly possibly well well well procure traumatic.
The outdated long-distance truck driver accused of killing Cindy Gladue in his Edmonton resort room nearly a decade ago took the stand Monday as the defence begins its case.
Bradley Barton’s manslaughter trial entered its fourth week Monday. He’s accused of sexually assaulting Gladue, who suffered an 11 cm injury to her vaginal wall and bled to loss of life in Barton’s bathtub at the Yellowhead Inn.
Barton, 52, started his testimony after an opening statement from defence criminal professional Dino Bottos, who urged jurors to listen to his facet of the story with an originate mind.
Bottos confused that their job as jurors used to be to now not reach to a dedication whether Barton used to be a “sinful particular person” on narrative of he lied to detectives, cheated on his higher half, considered pornography and firstly left Gladue’s body in the bathtub with out calling for support.
Pretty, Bottos said their role is to assess whether the Crown had confirmed its case: that Barton proceeded with sexual reveal when Gladue refused or used to be incapable of consenting, and whether he knew or reasonably foresaw what he used to be doing would hurt her.
“This case is now not accomplished, and likewise you would possibly possibly well well well possibly now not shut your mind,” Bottos said.
Barton, an Ontario resident, testified he used to be in the Edmonton dwelling in June 2011 on a intelligent job. He owned his possess truck and labored as a long-distance mover with a subsidiary of Allied Van Traces.
The particular job had him and two colleagues intelligent 45,000 kilos of private items from Soda Springs, Idaho to an acreage outside Edmonton. The products incorporated two autos and a ship, divided between two tractor trailers.
The job used to be delayed by customs and considerations gaining access to the driveway with their main trucks. Whereas Barton had a sleeper unit in his cab, the extend led him and a colleague to check into the Yellowhead Inn.
Barton said he first met Gladue outside the resort bar on June 20, 2011, after asking a particular person gathering cigarette butts whether he had any female company. Barton in the end agreed to pay Gladue for intercourse and penetrated her vagina with four of his fingers sooner than taking part in intercourse. Barton said Gladue moaned pleasurably at some stage in the act.
The next night time, Gladue joined Barton and co-worker Kevin Atkins in the resort bar for drinks. Barton lied to Atkins, telling him Gladue used to be a furniture packer he extinct on jobs in the Edmonton dwelling.
After closing call, as they returned to their rooms, Barton said he asked Atkins “if he would desire a a part of this,” referring to Gladue.
“He said ‘no.’”
“I said ‘Kev, what occurs on the freeway stays on the freeway, it doesn’t ranking merit dwelling.’”
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Barton said as soon as in the resort room, he and Gladue started to raise in intercourse. He all over again attach his fingers internal her, in a conical shape.
After a minute while, Barton removed his hand and positioned it used to be coated in blood. “I asked Cindy if she used to be getting her length,” Barton said. He said he “wasn’t ” and that he would now not pay her “on narrative of there used to be nothing completed.”
Barton said he then went to the bathroom to neat up. Gladue entered the washroom next. Barton said he then rolled over and fell asleep. At one level he heard water running, nonetheless he said he’s an in some other case heavy sleeper.
‘I used to be in shock’
Barton said he awakened the following morning and positioned Gladue’s body in the bathtub, coated in blood.
“I used to be in shock, I flipped out,” Barton testified. “I’d never considered anything else love it sooner than in my entire lifestyles. I terrified. It’s complicated to level to.”
Barton said he urinated, then washed the blood off his toes and the flooring with a washcloth. On the flooring, he noticed the bedspread, which used to be also coated in blood. Then he left the room.
“I didn’t know what took enviornment, I just had to ranking out of there.”
As soon as in the rental van, Barton told co-worker John Sullivan that a girl used to be dead in his room. Sullivan urged Barton to call 911, which Barton did after returning to the resort.
Barton spoke to a detective later that morning and claimed Gladue got right here to his resort room unannounced and asked to make reveal of the bathe. He claimed he never touched her. Police arrested Barton numerous days later.
Crown prosecutors concluded their case Thursday with proof from a forensic analyst who searched Barton’s pc pc following his arrest. The analyst found a vogue of searches for pornography and details about vaginal injuries, together with vaginas being ripped or torn by huge objects.
Gladue used to be a 36-year-ancient, Indigenous mother of three. On Thursday, Justice Stephen Hillier cautioned jurors in opposition to taking part in myths or stereotypes about Indigenous people. Earlier in the trial, a crew of supporters together with family and lacking and murdered Indigenous females advocates held a demonstration outside the courthouse.
The defence also intends to call the resort bartender who served Barton’s table, as smartly as Dr. Paul Sinkhorn, a California-primarily based OB-GYN, Bottos said.
Barton’s most modern trial is a retrial ordered by the Supreme Court docket of Canada in 2019. It’s miles expected to journey by method of Feb. 19. Complaints had been delayed closing week after a COVID-19 terror.
