EDMONTON – A medical examiner told an Edmonton jury on Tuesday he had never seen an injury as severe as that inflicted on Cindy Gladue, a Métis woman found dead in a hotel tub.
Dr Graeme Dowling, a former chief medical examiner, testified on a conference call on the second day of Bradley Barton’s manslaughter trial.
The 52-year-old Ontario truck driver is accused of killing Cindy Gladue, a 36-year-old Métis mother, at the Yellowhead Inn in June 2011.
GRAPHIC WARNING: The following details may disturb some readers.
Dr. Graeme Dowling testified that out of about 6,000 autopsies he performed, he had not previously seen the type of injury Cindy Gladue sustained on the right side of her vaginal wall.
He said the injury was caused by blunt trauma.
“I want to stress to the ladies and gentlemen of the jury that the force used, in my opinion, was considerable,” said Dr Dowling.
“A blunt object produced the wound, not only in the wall of the vagina, but through and through.”
The injury extended to 11 centimeters, Graeme Dowling said. He added that Cindy Gladue also had cuts and scrapes all over her body.
At one point during the doctor’s testimony, Cindy Gladue’s mother, Donna McLeod, put her face in her hands. Another woman later helped her out of the courtroom.
Dr Dowling is scheduled to resume the witness stand on Wednesday.
Crown attorney Julie Snowdon said in her opening statement on Monday that Cindy Gladue had died of blood loss from a horrendous injury.
Julie Snowdon has said Bradley Barton and Cindy Gladue had been drinking together the night before her body was found and security footage shows the two went to Bradley Barton’s bedroom.
A police officer also testified that there was blood almost everywhere in the bathroom and that Cindy Gladue’s body was found in the tub.
Edmonton Police Detective Nancy Ho testified on Tuesday that police searched the hotel’s garbage and discovered a metal rod with a face towel, and the towel appeared to have blood stains.
However, defense attorney Dino Bottos pointed out that Nancy Ho did not note the bloodstained towel in her report.
Detective Ho said police also found a note that had the name “Brad” on it, as well as room number 139 and a phone number with an Ontario area code.
The trial will last approximately seven weeks.
This is Bradley Barton’s second trial regarding the death of Cindy Gladue.
Following her first trial in 2015, which sparked rallies and calls for justice for Indigenous women, the case ended up in the Supreme Court of Canada.
The court had ruled that the evidence about the victim’s sexual history was mismanaged at the first trial, which led to Mr. Barton’s acquittal on a charge of first degree murder.
The Supreme Court had ruled that the Ontario trucker was to stand another trial.
–
