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The man charged with two fatal assaults in Edmonton’s Chinatown says he has no memory of being near where the alleged killings happened and testified he was hallucinating the day leading up to his arrest.
It’s been over four years since Justin Bone, 40, was arrested following the deaths of 61-year-old Ban Phuc Hoang and 64-year-old Hung Trang.
After the trial faced repeated delays due to Bone firing and hiring various lawyers, the defence began its arguments on Wednesday with testimony from Bone.
Bone described his days before the arrest as filled with drugs and wandering the city after he was dropped off by the RCMP for an unrelated matter, contrary to bail conditions prohibiting him from being unsupervised in Edmonton.
The first half of Bone’s experience had been covered in an earlier testimony related to several unsuccessful Charter applications made by his current lawyer, David Wolsey, in March.
‘I started hallucinating’
Bone’s testimony included descriptions of his life years prior, experiencing homelessness and being convinced people were following him.
In the days before his arrest, Bone said he had tried several times to contact family and spent much of his time using drugs.
This included staying up all night with a drug dealer he knew and smoking methamphetamine over a 12-hour period.
Bone gave a lengthy description of how the next day he smoked more methamphetamine with an artist who gifted him a red marker that reminded him of a former girlfriend who claimed to be a seer.
He consumed more meth later that day at an acquaintance’s house, left to stay with a family friend, then received marijuana from a youth who offered him a trade on the bus.
He told the court he was suspicious that he had not actually been given marijuana after smoking the substance.
“From that point on I started hallucinating and seeing things,” he said.
Bone got in contact with his brother and arranged to meet him at the Clareview Library. As he approached the library, Bone said he started seeing people in cars watching him. He decided to leave and that’s when Bone said his memory became spotty.
Sleeping on a roof
Bone said he remembers trying to go to a detox centre near the Royal Alexandra Hospital on May 17, the day before the fatal beatings.
But Bone said he remembered being kicked off the premises by security and crossing the street. Bone said he saw a face or a dragon in the sky.
“A magpie was beside me eating a taquito and for some reason I was talking to it,” Bone told the courtroom.
Bone said the next thing he remembers is staying on top of a warehouse roof near Rogers Place the following day. He described staying in a fan room before dropping a metal grate and running off.
After that Bone said he remembers waking up in the police station downtown.
His lawyer, Wolsey, asked Bone if he remembers being near Chinatown, or going into an autobody shop or electronics store where the alleged killings took place. Bone testified he did not.
Video footage
Bone said on several occasions that police video footage of him was altered. He told the courtroom the clothes he remembers wearing that day are not the clothes seen in the video of him in a police holding cell.
“The videos you see are not the right videos,” Bone said.
Earlier in the trial, the Crown argued that Bone’s behaviour in the holding cell, including setting off a sprinkler, shows he was making intentional choices and had a presence of mind.
The defence is expected to present further evidence Thursday morning, before the trail continues in August.