By Taylor MacPherson

Eyewitness testifies at Ermine murder trial

May 9, 2017 | 5:27 PM

An eyewitness tearfully told a Prince Albert jury she saw Robyn Laura Ermine swing something at Evan Bear, before Ermine left the house and did not return as Bear bled to death on the kitchen floor.

Evan Tylan Bear, 27, died Feb. 21, 2015 at the home he shared with Ermine on Muskoday First Nation. Ermine, 30, is currently on trial for Bear’s murder at Prince Albert’s Court of Queen’s Bench.

Ermine’s step-sister Shelinda Vallier took the stand today as the Crown’s only eyewitness to the events. Vallier said she was staying with Ermine and Bear for the weekend and the group had spent the night drinking beer and vodka at the couple’s Muskoday home. As their alcohol supply dwindled, Vallier said she went to bed, but when she got up a short while later to get a drink Bear and Ermine were arguing in the kitchen.

Vallier said she did not know what the argument was about, but it quickly became physical.

“They were just hitting each other,” she said. “I seen my sister reach for something. I don’t know exactly what she was reaching for. I seen her swing.”

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According to Vallier, Bear said “as if you stabbed me” to Ermine, then threw her to the floor and banged her head against the linoleum. At this point, Vallier said, blood was squirting from a wound on Bear’s neck every time he breathed.

“I was screaming for them to stop, and I think Evan (Bear) stopped because he was getting weak,” Vallier said. “He said ‘I’m bleeding out.’”

Ermine phoned for an ambulance, Vallier said, then passed the phone to her. While the 9-1-1 operator coached her through applying pressure to the wound and performing chest compressions, Vallier said she saw her step-sister mopping part of the floor before leaving the scene entirely. When paramedics arrived at the home a short while later, it was already too late.

“The lady sat down beside me and told me he was already gone,” Vallier said.

The jury also saw RCMP videotapes of the crime scene this afternoon, which included graphic close-ups of Bear’s shirtless and bloodied body on the linoleum kitchen floor. Several members of Bear’s family rushed out of the courtroom when the body was shown and Ermine, who had watched stoically from the prisoner’s dock up to that point, sniffed loudly several times.

Three weeks have been set aside for the trial, which is expected to conclude by May 26.

Taylor.macpherson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @TMacPhersonNews

Editor’s Note: Commenting on this story is closed as the matter is before the courts.