When Nicole Pinto first spoke with police concerning what she knew about the death of Orillia's Joseph Simonds, there were a lot of outside factors that led to her telling partial truths.
“I didn’t trust police officers. I was worried they would spin it to make me the victim or the villain,” she told the jury on Thursday morning at the Barrie courthouse.
Pinto is one of the key witnesses in the trials of Brian Quesnel and Martin Forget, who are both charged with first-degree murder in the death of Simonds.
A third co-accused, Sonny Brokenshire, took a plea deal in January to the lesser crime of conspiracy to commit murder in exchange for testifying. He testified last week.
Pinto and Brokenshire had been dating for about three years when the events surrounding Simonds’ death occurred, according to her testimony on Thursday.
She testified that on May 14, 2017, she saw Martin Forget arrive at her home on Albany Street in Orillia in his black vehicle with Quesnel. She said it was her first time meeting Quesnel, but she recognized him from photos she’d seen on her friend Brandie Lalonde’s Facebook page.
She remembers the date because she said it was also the date she discovered she was pregnant with Brokenshire’s child.
While she said she wasn’t present in the garage for their meeting, she said she recalled hearing yelling coming from the garage.
“I just heard yelling. I didn’t recognize the voice, so it must have been Brian’s. I would have recognized Sonny’s or Martin’s,” she testified.
The second time the trio met, as far as Pinto knew, was also in the garage of the Pinto residence on June 3, 2017.
“They went to the garage and I followed about 20 minutes after to smoke (pot),” said Pinto. “They were all very angry.”
“I remember Brian saying he wanted his blood. I assumed he meant Joe’s. He also said he had a piece for him,” she said.
Pinto said the three never outright told her what their plans were, although they did discuss who would take which weapons. She said they decided Brokenshire would take a knife, Forget would take a baseball bat and Quesnel would take a gun, although she said she never saw the gun.
She said much of the conversation in the garage between Quesnel and Forget was spoken in French, which she didn’t understand.
“I was worried, but also thought nothing would happen because they had looked for Joe previously and nothing had happened,” she said.
During his cross-examination, Forget’s defence counsel, Alan Brass, asked Pinto about issues with her memory.
“When Joseph Simonds was shot, it was an emotional time for you, is that correct?” asked Brass.
“Yes,” said Pinto.
“I understand at this time you were experiencing blackouts that affected your memory, correct?” he asked.
“Yes,” Pinto replied, adding that she still experiences memory problems during times of stress but now takes medication for the issue.
Brass asked Pinto about the information circulating on social media at the time of Simonds’ death.
“I understand it was a gossip mill. Everyone was sharing information on Facebook – theories on what had happened. Would that have somewhat impacted your recollection?” asked Brass.
“No, because what I was hearing is not what I said (to police),” responded Pinto.
When Brokenshire testified last week, he outlined that on the morning of June 4, 2017, Pinto told him she had heard about Simonds’ death, and that immediately afterward he told her everything that had happened.
However on Thursday, Pinto told the jury a different version of those events.
“I asked him if he did anything stupid last night, and he said no,” said Pinto.
“If Sonny ever said he told you everything, that would be a total lie, correct?” Quensel’s defence counsel, James Harbic, asked Pinto.
“Yes,” said Pinto.
When pushed to answer questions by Harbic about her testimony during the preliminary inquiry, Pinto said she couldn’t remember her testimony.
“You can’t recall what you said at the preliminary inquiry?” asked Harbic.
“I don’t want to remember court, so I don’t remember it,” said Pinto.
The trial continues Friday.
To read about Day 1 of this trial, including opening arguments and first witnesses, click here.
To read about Day 2, including witness testimony from forensic investigators, click here.
To read about Day 3 and Day 4, which saw Sonny Brokenshire testify, click the links.
To read about Day 5, outlining links between the Chrysler 300 and the crime, click here.
To read about Day 6, where a digital forensic investigator presented text messages between some of the players in this case, click here.
To read about Day 7, where a representative from Rogers testified on cell phone tracking, click here.
To read about Day 8, where friends of Quesnel and Brokenshire testified about their conversations with the two before and after Simonds’ death, click here.
