By Troy Gillard (Twitter: @Troy_Gillard)

Witness grilled at second degree murder trial

Nov 23, 2018 | 3:14 PM

The second degree murder trial for Daniel Boyd Sawyer continued Friday in Red Deer Court of Queen’s Bench with the defence grilling an eyewitness over his account of what happened the night Allan Beach was stabbed to death in north Red Deer three years ago.

Daniel Cooper (Mireault) told court on Wednesday that he saw Sawyer stab Beach during an altercation outside the Blarney Stone pub on the night of Nov. 18, 2015.

Defence lawyer Chris Archer took aim at Cooper’s testimony by pointing out inconsistencies between it, statements he provided to police following the stabbing and his testimonies at preliminary inquiries for Sawyer and Bill Georgopoulos.

Archer said it wasn’t until he testified at preliminary hearings that Cooper said Sawyer was the one who stabbed Beach. Prior to that, Archer submitted, Cooper implicated Bill Georgopolous in the stabbing.

Cooper became agitated when pressed by Archer about the variances in his story.

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“I can’t tell you what was running though my head at the time. It was three years ago, dude,” Cooper snapped. “How am I supposed to remember?”

“Did you see the stabbing?” Archer asked.

“Yeah, of course I did,” Cooper replied. “It was right in front of my eyes!”

Cooper testified Wednesday he saw Beach suffer stab wounds to his left side during the Nov. 18, 2015 altercation. Archer told him the evidence, including autopsy results, proves otherwise.

“Mr. Beach’s injuries were all on the right side of his body,” Archer explained. “There were no injuries on the left side. And if Mr. Sawyer was on the left side, he didn’t kill your friend. Do you understand that?”

“Yes,” Cooper mumbled.

“If Mr. Sawyer was on the left side, he didn’t kill your friend,” Archer added. “Mr. Georgopoulos killed your friend, not Mr. Sawyer.”

”OK, bud,” said Cooper.

Archer pressed on by saying it was impossible for Sawyer to be involved in the stabbing, but Cooper chose to implicate him anyway.

“I’m not here to lie. I’m here telling the truth to the best of my ability,” Cooper snapped.

The jury trial for Sawyer on one count of second degree murder is scheduled to run through Nov. 30.