Two weeks have been set aside for the Kenny Morin murder trial at Court of Queen's Bench in Prince Albert. (Nigel Maxwell/ paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Crime

‘His face was covered in blood’: Investigating officers testify on day two of Morin trial

Jan 18, 2022 | 5:00 PM

Editor’s note: Some of the testimony heard in court on Tuesday may be perceived as graphic in nature.

A man who was robbed and assaulted near his garage, was unrecognizable and surrounded by a pool of blood, according to the first police officer to arrive on scene.

Cst. Matt Mesenchuk was one of two police officers who testified Tuesday at the Kenny Morin murder trial at Court of Queen’s Bench in Prince Albert. Morin stands charged with second degree murder and robbery in connection to the death of 60-year-old David Maxemiuk in March, 2020.

Mesenchuk described for the court that when he received the initial dispatch call around 12:30 p.m., he was already in the proximity of the Midtown area residence and so was at the scene within a few minutes. He explained upon arrival he saw the victim lying in the snow, and said it was difficult to guess his age or his ethnicity.

“He was very discoloured,” Mesenchuk said, adding Maxemiuk’s eyes were swollen shut, and his skin was dark blue and purple in colour.

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A picture taken at the time of the incident. (Nigel Maxwell/ paNOW Staff)

By 1 p.m. Maxemiuk was transported to hospital, and Mesenchuk was asked to hop in the ambulance too. He said when they arrived at Victoria hospital, there were between 10 and 15 staff members waiting for them.

“I just remember a little bit of chaos but they were doing a really good job trying to save his life,” he said.

At 5 p.m., Maxemiuk was transported by STARS air ambulance to hospital in Saskatoon, where he would pass away five days later. When asked by the defence if he had any conversations with the victim or the accused, Mesenchuk said no.

As a result of Maxemiuk being transported to hospital in Saskatoon, the Saskatoon Police Service was contacted by the Prince Albert Police Major Crimes Unit to help with the investigation.

Sgt. Mikael Ziola documents crime scenes and was the second witness to testify Tuesday. He said when he arrived at the hospital, and located Maxemiuk, he noticed Maxemiuk had extensive trauma to his face and head.

“His face was covered in blood,” Ziola recalled.

Ziola also explained Maxemiuk was unconscious throughout the entire 43 minutes he spent with him taking 28 photos and collecting swabs. Two days later, the evidence collected by Ziola, was couriered back to Prince Albert.

Tuesday’s court proceedings lasted less than 45 minutes and Crown lawyer Kristen Hubbard apologized to Justice Gary Meschisnick, explaining that due to scheduling conflicts, she was unable to keep all the witnesses together.

On Wednesday, two more witnesses are expected for the Crown including a forensic pathologist.

As heard in court in Monday, Morin has taken responsibility for causing the death of Maxemiuk, however defence contends he should be sentenced on a lesser charge of manslaughter.

Statement of facts

paNOW requested and was approved by the court to publish the agreed statement of facts in the case, which includes the cause of death, as well as the circumstances surrounding Morin’s arrest.

According to Dr. Andreea Nistor, the person who performed the autopsy, the official cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head and torso.

Kenny Morin was arrested by police at 8:36 p.m. on March 15, 2020 and the blood stains found on his shoes and pants, were later matched to belong to the victim.

Upon being taken into custody, Morin was searched by officers and within a pocket, they found four credit cards bearing the name of David Maxemiuk.

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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell