Joseph Thauberger takes stand in murder trial, testifies brother's death was an accident

Joseph Thauberger, who stands trial for the death of his brother, took the stand in person at the Court of King’s Bench on Tuesday.

The accused testified that Patrick fell down the stairs and broke his neck, in what he called an accident.

Thauberger, 80, had to enter the courtroom in a wheelchair, as his health remains in question.

Joseph testified to living at 2721 Francis St. since around 1991, the house where the incident involving his brother took place.

He stated that James and Patrick showed up to his house on Sept. 3 1997 around 10 a.m. He said he wasn’t aware Patrick was coming over until the previous evening when one of the brothers called and asked Joseph to bring Patrick to the bus station.

Joseph remembered being outside for just a short time before James left and the two remaining brothers went into his living room.

He said they stayed in there for about two hours, talking.

“Mostly about my personal life, his personal life, we had been very close in our younger years, he was the closest friend I had in prior years, closest sibling too for that matter,” Joseph recalled.

He said they also spoke about farmland they owned together, and about how a man wanted to rent some of the land. Joseph had drawn up the contract but since that particular portion of the farmland was in Patrick’s name, Patrick had to sign the contact.

Joseph recalled going upstairs to get something from his filing cabinet in regards to the contract.

He explained that the steps in the upstairs stairwell are narrow, and do not have a railing for the last five or so steps because a trap door comes down, which closes off the upper landing.

“If you don’t grab this handrail, you’re walking up a steep stairwell without being able to stabilize yourself,” court heard from the accused.

Joseph said Patrick had never really been upstairs before, and he followed Joseph up the stairs a few moments after.

“He was in a bit of a hurry too. The next thing I heard was a loud yelling sound,” Joseph testified.

“If you fall down the stairs, you’re going to be yelling pretty loudly. I heard his yelling then a big bang when he hit the bottom of the stairs.”

Joseph testified that he ran to the top of the stairs to see what happened, and saw Patrick laying in the hallway at the bottom of the stairs, with his neck twisted and seemingly broken.

He recalled Barbara Hayes coming up the stairs and poking her head through the kitchen door.

“When she heard this bang crash on the floor, she came upstairs immediately and opened the door to the kitchen and said, ‘What the heck is going on?’ and I said, ‘Pat had an accident,’ and she said, ‘I don’t want to know anything about it’ and she went back downstairs.”

Joseph said he doesn’t blame Hayes for not wanting to be a part of it, and reiterated several times she had nothing to do with any of it.

He said Patrick was breathing at first but then stopped, making him panic and question whether or not to call an ambulance.

Joseph said he presumed if he told anyone about the accident, he would be charged with murder and go to jail, referencing David Milgaard’s murder trial from the 1960’s.

“Evidence that would convict me of killing my brother, we were business partners,” he said.

“And so I just supposed that if I reported the incident, there was a 98 per cent chance I would be convicted of murder and go to jail […] so I had no choice but to cover it up because I was convinced in my own mind that because of what happened to Milgaard.”

Joseph then testified to wrapping the body up in a carpet, putting it in the back of his truck and driving his brother’s body to the farm.

He said he had a bad back at the time, so he hired someone to bury the body in a slough so if there was an investigation, the dogs wouldn’t be able to sniff the body in the water.

He testified to paying $500 for the bury and an additional $1,000 at later dates so the person would not say anything. He never identified the individual.

Jospeh Thauberger testified that he and Patrick had an amicable relationship, that they were not in any disputes over land and that on the day of the incident, they were in good spirits.

The defence asked him about an encounter with an undercover police officer, where he had shown them the remains of his brother in the slough in 2020.

When asked how Joseph knew where the body was buried, he replied he had told the unnamed gentleman where to bury the body, near the big stone pile to keep the body down.

When asked why he confessed to the murder of his brother to the undercover police officer, he testified that they were going to give him $30,000 if he confessed to something bad he had done in the past.

“I had to manufacture a story that I killed my brother that qualified me for the $30,000.”

The Crown began cross-examination confirming the events of the day on Sept. 3, 1997 with Thauberger.

In the cross, the Crown questioned the series of events including what stair Patrick was on when he fell, how he fell, if he was still breathing, if Barbara Hayes came upstairs and if he called for help when he thought his brother was dead.

The Crown asked what Joseph heard and at first, he said a yell as Patrick was thumping down the strairs, then changed to Patrick must have slid down the stairs.

Joseph said he saw that he had stopped breathing from about three or four feet away, but never checked Patrick’s pulse and never administered CPR.

The Crown asked why when Joseph told Hayes that, ‘Pat had an accident’ he didn’t ask her to help or call the ambulance for his brother, or if she found it strange that he didn’t ask for help.

“I don’t think for her it was all that strange she knew we had occasional, mild disagreements.”

The Crown went more into depth about the undercover operation. According to Joseph, a man approached him about a conflict with another individual who cannot be named due to a publication ban.

Joseph testified the undercover officer offered him $30,000 if he admitted to doing something bad in the past so he made up the story of the murder of his brother.

Court heard the wire recording of the conversation with Joseph admitting to things ending badly, including hitting Patrick in the head with a hammer in the kitchen.

The Crown again asked why Joseph made up this story to which Joseph said “he told me in order for me to trust you, I have to know that you have committed a serious crime sometime in the past.”

“If you’re going to know one of his secrets, he needs to know one of yours,” the Crown countered.

Details of the conversation around land disputes and Patrick’s paranoia came up in conversations with the undercover cop as well, showing a less-than-amicable relationship between the brothers.

The Crown asked if Joseph ever threatened Hayes to which he adamantly denied.

He was asked if he had ever deceived a court before, to which he admitted to doing so in the land dispute with his ex-wife back in 1988.

The Crown continued saying when Joseph was arrested and charged with the murder of Patrick in November 2020, he had a phone call with one of his daughters on Dec. 27 2020 where he said, “What happened to Pat was because he was seriously off his rocker.”

The Crown continuously brought up the discrepancies between Joseph’s account of the events, what he told the undercover cop, Hayes’ testimony, his brother James’ testimony and the police interview in 2020.

Cross-examination will continue by the Crown on Wednesday morning.