(Editor's note: this story contains language and content that some may find offensive.)
Chris Schweitzer's wife said she doesn't remember ever seeing the man who killed her husband until she saw him in a
Michelle "Missy" Chartrand, 39, took to the witness stand Tuesday on Day 2 of Sean Wade Haverty's first degree murder trial at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
"I think we said 'hi' to each other. We kept to ourselves," she said of Haverty, 50, who lived two doors down from her and Schweitzer.
"Supposedly we walked by him all the time walking the dogs and he said 'hi' to us, him and his wife."
Chartrand and Schweitzer had been married six years and together for 19 years. They lived in the bottom half of a house at
Chartrand, who broke down in tears numerous times during her testimony, gave her testimony via closed circuit television.
She and a friend were sitting with Schweitzer moments before there was a banging on their apartment door around
Seconds later Schweitzer lay bleeding to death on the floor, shot by Haverty.
Schweitzer died at the scene. Haverty was arrested a couple of hours later at Groves Memorial Hospital in Fergus.
Chartrand, who has a learning disability and has trouble remembering things, answered "I don't know" and "I don't remember" to many questions from Crown Attorney Judith Thompson and during cross-examination from defence counsel Ari Goldkind.
Some of her testimony also conflicted with testimony she gave during the preliminary hearing on the case.
"I just remember hearing big loud bangs. Chris went to the door. I don't remember hearing arguing, just 'bang, bang' and Chris went down," Chartrand said.
She said she was in the living room and didn't see her husband take anything to the door with him.
"I heard yelling, then I heard gunshots. I went and looked and he had shots right on his neck and then I called 911," she said.
Under cross-examination, she said she didn't remember calling Haverty "a fucking asshole."
She later said Haverty "was yelling at Chris" but also said she didn't remember an argument at the door.
"I was in shock. I don't remember, okay?" she said to Goldkind.
Court heard that Schweitzer suffered from schizophrenia, was "addicted to pot" as his wife put it, and was being treated with methadone for an opiate addiction. Another witness on Tuesday said that Schweitzer had also used crystal meth.
The court also heard from Kenny Trainer, who was also in the living room of Schweitzer's apartment when the incident unfolded.
Trainer, who lived upstairs from Chartrand and Schweitzer and was their friend, is now deceased. His evidence on Tuesday came via a recording of his the testimony he gave during the preliminary hearing.
The seven-woman, five-man jury heard Trainer tell the court that three hours before the shooting he had seen a man wandering back and forth in front of the windows to Schweitzer's apartment "waving a knife around" for several minutes.
He called Schweitzer, who had gone out with Chartrand.
"I called Chris, told him there was some guy in the laneway waving a knife around and I don't know what was going on," Trainer said.
Trainer said that later that night, when Haverty banged on the apartment door, he and Chartrand both followed Schweitzer to the front door, with Schweitzer picking up a glass bong.
"He knew there was something up. He wanted to be prepared to defend himself," Trainer said.
He said Schweitzer told him to grab a can of insect repellant but Trainer declined.
Trainer said he heard the following exchange:
Haverty: "Don't you ever come 'round my house or I'll shoot you!"
Schweitzer: "Who are you and why are you at my door?"
Trainer said that Schweitzer then hit Haverty in the face with the glass bong, which shattered upon impact.
"It cut his nose ... he didn't move or anything," Trainer testified.
Haverty then shot Schweitzer "point blank."
"It all happened in less than a minute," Trainer said.
Chartrand and Trainer tried to hold a cloth to the wound on Schweitzer's neck but Trainer then went outside after he was bitten by one of the couple's dogs.
Under cross-examination from Goldkind at the preliminary trial, Trainer said that Haverty appeared drunk.
Earlier in the day the court heard from Adam Green, 31, who lived across from the scene of the incident at that time.
Green said it wasn't uncommon to hear Chartrand and Schweitzer scream at one another during domestic disputes, but that night he went outside when he heard screaming that was much more ominous.
"Help me, help me," Green said he heard Chartrand yelling.
Green rushed in the building and tried to apply first aid to Schweitzer as he lay unconscious on the floor.
Initially there was a pulse and breathing, but that waned over the next couple of minutes.
He said Schweitzer started to lose colour in his face and then turn blue. He stopped breathing.
Green said 10 minutes later the police tactical unit arrived at the door and ordered him out of the house.
Another resident of the street, John Gibbens, saw a man "swaying back and forth" outside the scene of the crime and then heard two bangs a few minutes later.
He then saw a man walking away from the home who "seemed off balance."
"I drew the conclusion that this person was not in the right state of mind," said Green.
The trial continues Wednesday.
