Townsend's Skype logs showed plan to kill: police

The homicide charge against Johnathan Townsend was upgraded to first-degree murder after chat logs were discovered by a police forensic examination of his computer, jurors heard Tuesday during the second day of his trial.

Det. Staff Sgt. Tom Armstrong said investigators learned that, between July 28 and Aug. 8, 2013, the young Sault Ste. Marie man was involved in Skype chats, where he talked about knowing a stripper and planning to kill her.

Townsend spoke about poisoning, suffocating or slitting her throat, letting her bleed out, and cutting or grinding her up, the 19-year officer told assistant Crown attorney Crystal Tomusiak.

The 21-year-old has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge stemming from the Aug. 8, 2013 stabbing death of Coreillie Bonhomme, 42, whose body was found in the bathtub of his Lake Street apartment.

After the incident, in further chats, Townsend talked about "leaving a big mess and not getting away with it," and that he was going to get 25 years - something he had researched, Armstrong said.

In an agreed statement of facts, Superior Court Justice Michael Varpio and the jury heard Bonhomme was an exotic dancer, who performed under the name Marilyn at Studio 10 when she was in the Sault.

During cross-examination by defence lawyer Jennifer Tremblay-Hall, Armstrong indicated he had read more than 37,000 chat logs police had discovered on the computer.

He agreed there were chats where Townsend spoke about the woman's aggressiveness and his uncomfortableness with her.

Earlier Tuesday, jurors viewed the second and third part of a two-and-half-hour video interview Armstrong conducted with Townsend on Aug. 10, following his arrest on a charge of second-degree murder.

For the first hour or so of the interview, Townsend repeatedly remained silent or refused to answer questions surrounding the woman's death until he had a further discussions with his lawyer, but eventually told the detective that he didn't feel safe around her.

"She hadn't hurt me yet," he said, explaining that she wasn't talking directly about hurting him, "but it was kind of implied."

Townsend admitted stabbing her with a knife that he had underneath his pillow for protection, because she kind of talked about hurting other people "and gassing people like Hitler did" and "I was terrified."

That night she was talking about doing stuff to people, and "I thought she was talking about me," and "I kind of freaked out," he told Armstrong.

He said they were in bed, and Bonhomme had her back towards him when he started panicking. "I thought she was going to attack me."

Townsend told the detective he was "pretty sure" he only stabbed Bonhomme once, that the woman started asking for help, and pounding on things. "I never wanted her to suffer, but I didn't want her to hurt me. "

He said he remembered telling her to get into the tub "because she was making a big mess."

When asked if the couple had sex, he replied no, but stated he wasn't "entirely sure" if his semen would be found on her body, while also indicating they weren't girlfriend and boyfriend.

Townsend said he had met the woman, when he found her sleeping by his mail box. She told him that she was from out of town, that she was in the Sault for a job, and because she hadn't been paid, she couldn't get a hotel room.

"I invited her to stay with me, I felt sorry for her." 

At first, they were friends, but "she started getting pretty verbal and aggressive," he told Armstrong, describing an incident at a Dollarama store, where she was angry about a card she called racist, and a second one where she was upset about a dog she claimed had bitten her.

After stabbing Bonhomme, Townsend said he went to various places, including Tim Hortons, before going to Sault Area Hospital, where he was later arrested on Aug. 10.

When cross-examined by Tremblay-Hall,  Armstrong said he was aware of Townsend's mental issues and that he had autism and Asperger syndrome.

She suggested he wasn't necessarily sure how much Townsend would understand, to which he replied "it's my job to make sure" he understands what we're talking about.

Townsend was curled up in a chair with his feet up and "pretty well stayed like that for two and a half hours," Tremblay-Hall pointed out, suggesting her client was in a fetal position.

"I never paid attention," Armstrong responded. "He was sitting on his knees."

The defence noted her client's scratching and licking of a cup of pop, and licking of his hand, and wondered if the officer thought that indicated something was going on with him.

"I didn't know his mannerisms," the detective said, subsequently agreeing that this didn't strike him as being normal.

On Tuesday, the court also heard from a Checker Cab driver, who picked up Bonhomme at Studio 10 on Aug. 8 and took her to 379 Lake St.

Kevan Huluk said he dropped off the dark-haired, dark-skinned woman, whom he had also taken there in July, at 2:20 a.m.and she "looked fine to me."

The Crown will continue calling its witnesses today.