(Calgary) During the blockade at the Coutts, Alta., border crossing, police suspected two protesters with COVID-19 were about to receive a secret shipment of firearms late one night. However, one person told court Wednesday that the shipment was actually socks, underwear and a guitar.
Jaclyne Martin made the comment while testifying in the Court of King’s Bench at the trial of Anthony Olienick and Chris Carbert, both accused of conspiring to kill police officers during the border blockade.
Mme Martin testified that she and her partner handed over goods in a camouflage bag to Mr Olienick and Mr Carbert in a field near Coutts in February 2022, just days before police raided and made arrests to end the blockade.
“We collected socks and underwear, a grinder (handheld power tool) and a guitar,” M reported.me Martin in court while being questioned by Martin Olienick’s attorney, Marilyn Burns.
“When I arrived (at the drop-off site), I saw a black SUV parked, still running,” she added. Two women [étaient] inside. The interior light was on, so I could see them. I saw Chris Carbert and Tony Olienick standing there [leur] talk. ”
After the women left, Mme Martin handed most of the goods over to Mr. Olienick and Mr. Carbert, she said, adding that “the guitar stayed in the truck.”
M’s testimonyme Martin is confronted with the stories of policewomen who infiltrated the blockade, posing as protesters.
One of those agents testified about a conversation she and her undercover partner had with Anthony Olienick, during which they asked him if he needed them to retrieve anything.
She said Olienick responded that he had a package coming. When she and her colleague asked if the shipment was a gun, the co-defendants looked each other in the eye and did not deny it, the officer said, taking the silence as silent confirmation that the shipment was a gun.
Police presented evidence that they had found firearms, ammunition and bulletproof vests near the blockade site. Officers later seized more weapons, ammunition and two pipe bombs on Mr Olienick’s property.
A heated cross-examination
During cross-examination by Crown prosecutor Steven Johnston, Mr.me Martin confirmed she faces criminal charges stemming from the blockade, which paralyzed traffic for two weeks at the busy Canada-U.S. border crossing in protest of COVID-19 restrictions and vaccine mandates.
Mme Martin admitted to charges of mischief over $5,000 and possession of a weapon dangerous to the public peace.
“These are all accusations related to your involvement in the testimony you just gave today. Do you know that?” asked the lawyer, to whom Mme Martin answered in the affirmative.
The Crown attorney and the witness had many heated exchanges about the prosecution of the accused Olienick and Carbert and what actually happened at Coutts.
When Me Johnson asked him if he cared about the trial, Mr.me Martin responded that she had been asked to testify and that she thought it was important to tell the truth.
The lawyer then suggested to her that there were perhaps some things that happened at Coutts that she might not have been aware of.
Marilyn Burns closed her case on Wednesday. Her client, Mr. Olienick, did not testify.
The Crown argued that the accused intended to kill members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to keep the blockade intact.
An undercover officer testified that Mr. Olienick called the police pawns of “evil” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and told them that if the officers tried to end the blockade, he would “slit their throats.”
Me Burns told the jury that Martin Olienick was part of a group that believed it had a responsibility to act against a totalitarian government seeking to end individual freedoms.