It’s an emotional second day of testimony at the Desmond Fatality Inquiry.
Lionel Desmond, a 33-year-old war veteran diagnosed with PTSD after two tours of military service in Afghanistan in 2007, killed his wife, daughter, mother and himself in their home in Upper Big Tracadie in Jan. 2017.
Allen Murray, the inquiry’s senior Crown counsel, spent Tuesday morning questioning S/Sgt. Addie MacCallum, one of the first two officers to arrive at the scene.
Maccallum described finding the victims’ bodies, including Desmond’s 10-year-old daughter Aaliyah.
“I noticed that was a child- she was laying face down in a pool of blood, and there was a small dog sitting beside her,” he said. “She wasn’t moving, and she looked to be the source of the blood- she appeared to be dead.”
Maccallum said he came across Desmond’s body second among the four dead.
He said the body was dressed head-to-toe in camouflage.
“The person was laying on their back with their arms kind of ‘spread eagle’, almost- the rifle was laying over his left arm, close to his chest,” he said. “I noticed that person had suffered, obviously in my mind, a fatal wound.”
Maccallum said the wound to Desmond’s head and face made it almost impossible to identify him.
The inquiry heard from Sgt. Jennifer McNeil Tuesday afternoon.
McNeil, a forensic expert, explained how she spent several days the scene of the triple murder-suicide.
Testimony continues Wednesday afternoon; this phase of the inquiry is expected to last three weeks.
You can watch the proceedings by clicking here.
