Twitter Feed of Susan Clairmont, The Spec October 14, 2016 until lunch break
Cheryl Gzik is the Crown attorney on the case, while Russell Silverstein is representing Badgerow.
Feed Start—READ REVERSE FROM BOTTOM UP
Jury going for lunch now. Back at 2:15 p.m. #Badgerow #hamont
Going over Hawkins' job record to determine when #Badgerow trained him.
Did not know #Badgerow in 1981. Later, Badgerow trained him to use a "bander" to bind coiled steel.
He said slower tape sounded less like the accused.
Original Crown Joe Nadel (now Justice Nadel) played the recording for him. Listened to it twice. Possibly a different copy. Played slower.
Had earlier testified that he knew Fritch had gone to the police. Fritch gave his statement Dec. 29, 1998.
He worked with Dave Fritch. (Previous witness.) Does not remember Fritch talking about going to police.
He went to command post and received sketches, drawings. Later met with police to give them #Badgerow's name.
Did not remember date on which he called police.
And no trouble getting through hotline to play it for several coworkers.
He called the hotline from work and let others listen to it. No problem getting through, 3 or 4 times the day he talks to police.
"As soon as I heard it, I had a shiver in my spine," he had said in statement to police. That day, no trouble getting through on hotline.
Adler asked if Hawkins said the Crown's tape of the call seemed to play at a different speed? He said he didn't recall.
Scott Hawkins says he can't recall if he said in message that it was Badgerow's voice, or if it was before or after arrest.
Takes him until mid-November to get through to the hotline. Then he called police. Says he left name. "I wanted to speak to them further."
"I tried a number of times but I never got through to the recording."
Had gone to a @HamiltonPolice command post in February 1998. Received the hotline number. Tried calling, but couldn't get through.
Badgerow talked to him about "winterizing" his old car, but they never did it...Heard 911 call a couple of weeks before arrest.
Badgerow's former lawyer Leo Adler did this original cross. Trying to nail down when Hawkins and #Badgerow actually worked together.
1986 transferred to No. 2 hot mill. "On certain jobs we worked together." At "the coiler" in the 1980s.
Now read-in of the cross. Hawkins said he did not remember being at the police station with Gene Kelly...Hawkins started at Dofasco in 1978.
Tried number again from home, "two or three times...I just had to be sure what I knew." Jan. 8, 1999 he gave statement to @HamiltonPolice.
He used cell phone to call the hotline. "Instantaneously" knew it was Badgerow. "It shocked me...I had a chill in my spine. It set me back."
Heard 911 call before Badgerow's arrest. "I had been on my break...I happened to notice on one of our billboards, a poster." This was 3 a.m.
Worked with #Badgerow in 1986 at Hot Mill 2. Badgerow worked their first and helped train Hawkins.
Met him at Tim Hortons for coffee and to talk about the vehicle...At work would talk by phone within the hot mill. "It's a party line."
Badgerow lived in Caledonia at the time. He also had an older, blue Chev.
He would meet #Badgerow outside of work for coffee. "I had occasion to help Bob with one of his vehicles. Repair it." A Dodge truck.
Hawkins worked with #Badgerow. Sometimes worked in pulpit together. Usually 3 or 4 people in there. Could talk with each other.
Badgerow went to Saltfleet. Witness knew his sister, Ann and he worked at #Dofasco No. 1 Hot Mill.
Gzik is playing the part of well, herself. Fox is playing Mr. Hawkins. June, 7, 1958 DOB. Went to Saltfleet High School.
Next witness is a "read-in" of earlier testimony from 2011 trial because he has since died. #Badgerow
...that Steinbach talked to #Badgerow often at work, but phone conversations at work were only one minute long. Witness is done.
That's first time he tells @HamiltonPolice he thinks voice is Badgerow's. Silverstein done. Gzik back on her feet...Earlier testimony...
In January 1999, @HamiltonPolice came to #Dofasco to interview him and other coworkers. Steinbach knew why detectives wanted to talk to him.
Steinbach says he called hotline twice more . #Badgerow #hamont
Like 1
Steinbach says only way he could be 100 per cent certain is if he both heard and saw #Badgerow make the phone call.
Steinbach says that's not correct...His testimony from another trial, he said he couldn't say "100 per cent" it was Badgerow.
Silverstein: "I'm going to suggest the reason you didn't call police is that while it sounded like Badgerow, you weren't sure."
Witness says he was not aware of the posters about the case at #Dofasco.
Says it sounded like #Badgerow. He didn't call police right then, even though he knew @HamiltonPolice wanted people to cal with info.
Next time he heard it was at coworker's home. "He called it, listened to it, then I listened to it."
"I didn't really hear it that well, that particular time," he says. "It wasn't like I was listening intently." He had no reaction to it.
Plant is a noisy place. Ear protection needed. In pulpit, it's quieter. That's when he first heard 911 call over a radio.
When he heard the 911 tape for the first time he was working in "the pulpit." It's a control room at the end of a line at the steel mill.
Silverstein says any conversation he had with #Badgerow lasted only a minute. Steinbach says that's wrong.
It was 1994 or 95 that he began to work with #Badgerow regularly. Before that they had brief work encounters.
Gave statement to @HamiltonPolice in early 1999...Gzik done. Now Silverstein with cross.
"I was processing what I had listened to and then he was arrested maybe a day or two later."
He did not phone @HamiltonPolice right away. It was a Saturday night. He called hotline on Monday and listened again.
"I recognized the voice as Bob...Badge...The tone and the wording...I listened to the whole thing."
Coworker called "the task force number." This was weekend before #Badgerow's arrest. Coworker dialled number so he could listen.
"I heard the recording, I was out with a coworker for dinner with our wives." He asked if he'd heard the talk about the recording.
Saw #Badgerow socially only at "work related functions" such as a shift party or Christmas party.
He worked 12 hour shifts. For a while on same shift as #Badgerow. Worked "face to face."
Started in 1980 at No. 1 Hot Mill as a roll expediter. Worked with #Badgerow in 1984 at No. 2 Hot Mill.
Jury is back. Crown Gzik calls Joseph Steinbach. He has worked at #Dofasco for 36 years. #Badgerow
Witness is done. Jury getting a break. #Badgerow
A fair amount of talk at #Dofasco after #Badgerow's arrest.
Asked if he listened to the tape again in that 6-8 week period. He says no.
Abriel says "I just didn't want to call" and that's why he waited 6-8 weeks. #Badgerow
No recording of that message Abriel left.
Abriel insists poster was up in March and he called that special number to hear tape and leave a message that said #Badgerow in "slitter."
Silverstein says Abriel didn't call police until after #Badgerow's arrest. Abriel disagrees.
"Police request you listen to the actual recording of this caller," poster says, then provides a phone number to hear a recording.
Poster says "Requests Your Assistance" and gives details about @HamiltonPolice investigation. Talks about phone call from booth at Gate 6.
Silverstein shows Abriel the poster. Witness says that's the one he saw. Poster now being shown on screens.
Abriel says a poster up at Dofasco before he made call in March 1998. But Silverstein says poster didn't go up until November 1998.
When he did call, he didn't leave his own name or #Badgerow's name. Silverstein says there is no record of that call.
He knew it was an important case and yet he didn't call police until 6-8 weeks later? asks Silverstein.
Says he called police about two months after he heard 911 call on the radio. Abriel says he first heard it in January 1998.
He never socialized with #Badgerow or spoke to him on the phone.
"So Dofasco's work records are not always accurate," says Silverstein. (This will become critical later on.)
He explains because he had been temporarily put on the slitter. But records still showed him as working at the coke ovens. #hamont
Now cross by Silverstein. Discrepancy between his work records and where he was in fact working.
He left a phone message. Said he had information. Was in December 1998, after #Badgerow's arrest.
He gave statement to @HamiltonPolice. Told them if they were looking for guy who worked at the hot mill, he worked at the slitter mill now.
"Because I heard his voice." Thought maybe #Badgerow was in his house. Heard it on Y95.
Heard tape while sitting in kitchen eating breakfast. Radio on. "I froze...I looked around the room. I thought maybe he was in the room."
He never associated with #Badgerow outside of work. From Nov. 1997 to May 1998 was on same shift with him.
Used to work with #Badgerow strapping steel coil together. Worked "a couple of feet" apart for 12 hours at a time. Sometimes talked.
He sometimes worked at Hot Mill #1 and #2. Last 19 years worked in "slitter building" near Kenilworth and Strathearne.
Next up is Robert Abriel. He has worked at #Dofasco for 33 years. Started 1984. Started in a "labour gang." Then coke ovens, then slitter
Crown: "Are you giving testimony because you have long-standing animosity toward Mr. #Badgerow?"
Fritch: "Absolutely not."
Done on stand.
Re-exam by Gzik. Clarifying earlier testimony. Fritch meant #Badgerow sounded harsher in the 90s than in 1981.
"There used to be a guy who worked here and talked to me like that. And look where he is now," Fritch said. Agrees referencing Badgerow.
Worked with guy named Steve Dooley. Oct. 27, 1999, was working with him in the pulpit (a room in the steel mill.) Got into an argument
"As far as police were concerned, they didn't know anything about you," says Silverstein.
In November 1998, posters went up at Dofasco about the case. Even then, Fritch didn't call police, who had never called him.
Fritch: "Are you saying I didn't make the phone call?"
Silverstein: "Yes."
Fritch: "Well, that's not true."
Silverstein: "At no time prior to his arrest did you identify him as the speaker to anyone."
When Fritch first talked to police, he said he heard tape at the gym, not in his truck.
"No, I didn't do that on purpose," says Fritch.
"You were under oath...You said something that wasn't true," says Silverstein. "You laid it off on the cops." #Badgerow #hamont
Fritch now says it wasn't an officer who said that. HE said it. But that is not what he said in 2001, under oath.
At 2001 trial, Fritch said one officer offered to play tape again, another officer said no, because then lawyer could find fault with that.
Fritch: "I did not need to hear that tape again. I knew it was Robert Badgerow."
Silverstein: "Would it have been a big waste of your time?"
Silverstein says he was not open to possibility it wasn't Badgerow.
Fritch said no, because lawyers could suggest he had to hear it a bunch of times to decide.
When he went to @HamiltonPolice after #Badgerow's arrest, he turned down officers' offer to hear the tape again.
Silverstein suggests he didn't tell them about calling police because it never happened.
"I didn't really believe I needed to tell them," says Fritch.
Silverstein: "You didn't think twice about participating in the rumour mill."
Fritch: "Correct."
Silverstein: "You said nothing about that."
Fritch: "That's correct."
He did not tell his coworkers that he had previously called police and left a message about the voice on the 911 call.
Fritch interviewed by @HamiltonPolice for first time after #Badgerow's arrest.
"There was quite a bit of talk about it," says Fritch, who admits he told coworkers he thought it was #Badgerow's voice
After #Badgerow was arrested in December 1998, Fritch and coworkers at #Dofasco all talked about it and the tape.
Silverstein suggests there was no such message left and that's why @HamiltonPolice never called him back. Fritch says that's untrue.
"At the time, I believe i gave them the information they needed and then they could get back to me."
"But they didn't."
"No, they did not."
"If you knew it was Robert #Badgerow, why didn't you say so?"
"I don't know. I just didn't say so."
Fritch testified he didn't remember if he specifically said it was #Badgerow's voice in the message he left.
In 2011 he testified: "I believe I did" say in the message that I could identify the voice.
Fritch left a message on police answering machine. Gave name, phone number, maybe his address "and I may have said 'I recognize the voice.'"
"... & you never hear the voice in 1981," Silverstein says.
"The voice you heard on the tape was different from the voice of Mr. Badgerow you heard 3 years earlier...
"I knew instantaneously...I picked it up right away. That's his voice," says Fritch.
"The voice I heard on the tape sounded younger and it wasn't as harsh as I remember," says Fritch.
Fritch is disagreeing with Silverstein who suggests he is guessing as to what #Badgerow's voice sounded like in 1981.
"The voice on the tape to me sounded a little bit younger," than #Badgerow did in 1995-96.
Voice was "harsher" and "older," says Fritch. And that's only a difference of a few years. #Badgerow #hamont
Voice in 1998 was "slightly different" than the way #Badgerow sounded in 1994 or 1995. And he never knew his voice in 1981.
He'd heard some of that same tape in the February newscast but he did not call police.
In his truck he recognized #Badgerow's voice after just a few words
Fritch says he heard that first newscast in "early February" of 1998.
"...or your going to have an accident some day and I'm going to be the cause of it." Fritch agrees this happened.
Then Fritch grabbed him by lapels and said "Don't you ever grab me again...
"An hour later you beckoned you over to him."
#Badgerow "grabbed you by the lapels and he started cursing and swearing at you," says Silverstein. "Yes, he did," says Fritch.
Badgerow came back without it. Fritch said "I think you're losing it."
He never socialized with #Badgerow. He had a dispute with Badgerow while working with him. Asked him to get something he'd left behind...
Fritch did not know #Badgerow in 1981. Worked with him in the mid-90s for two years. No contact after that.
"We used to refer to him as "Badge," says Fritch...Crown done, now cross by Silverstein. #Badgerow
Fritch testified at #Badgerow's previous trials. "I feel quite confident it's him. It's his voice. I have no doubt."
Left that info on an answering machine. #Badgerow
That officer was not involved in the investigation. Fritch called the police officer he was told to contact. He left name and phone number.
Went home and talked to his wife about it. "I called a police officer." Their sons had played hockey together.
"It (his voice) was not as harsh as it was when I worked with him...I heard possibly 6, 7 words, I knew it was him."
"As soon as it started I knew that voice belonged to Robert Badgerow. I pulled over to the side of the road."
"Two police officers and started talking about a case. An older case...They said we have a tape we're going to play..."
Third time he heard it on the @TheRoyGreenShow while driving his car in Binbrook. Two @HamiltonPolice officers were on the show. #Badgerow
He heard the 911 call before #Badgerow's arrest in 1998. He heard it on the newscast. He was in kitchen making supper, didn't hear it well.
Badgerow worked in "the pulpit." Could talk via a telephone. #hamont #Badgerow
"I was face to face working with him, most of the time," says Fritch. They worked to sheer off steel at No. 2 hot mill. #Badgerow #Dofasco
Gave initial statement to @HamiltonPolice in December 1998. He knows #Badgerow and worked with him from 1994-1996. 12-hour shifts.
Frederick David Fritch is sworn in. He is a retired Dofasco employee. Worked there 41.5 years, starting in 1969. #hamont #Badgerow
First witness called by Crown Gzik is David Fritch. #Badgerow #hamont
Jury coming in at the Robert #Badgerow murder trial in Kitchener. Witnesses today will be asked if it's Badge's voice in 911 call. #hamont
