Judge and jury were back in a Regina court room Monday for the third week of Gregory Wolfe and Colinda Hotomanie’s first degree murder trial in the death of Ryan Sugar.
Sgt. Todd Sherwin and Sgt. James Collins with the Regina Police Service both took the stand.
Sherwin – who was involved in Hotomanie’s arrest back in December 2016 – described Hotomanie as sober and politely joking at the time of her arrest. He also testified that she said police had the wrong person.
A several-hour-long video of Hotomanie’s statement to Regina police after her arrest was also played, in which Collins is shown asking Hotomanie questions while operating a polygraph test.
In the video, Hotomanie tells her account of what happened the night Sugar died – that she thought Sugar had sexually assaulted her and that Sugar was still alive when she last saw him. The video also showed her saying she feared for her safety after Sugar’s death – as he was part of a gang – and that’s why she had been moving from place to place, only returning to Regina to take care of her niece.
Hotomanie, Wolfe and Jessica Pangman were all charged with first-degree murder in Sugar’s death in December 2016. After a house fire on McTavish Street on Oct. 5, 2016, Sugar was believed missing until his body was found in the burnt out house a week later.
The Crown is expected to finish showing the video and close their case tomorrow morning.
Pangman, who is Hotomanie’s niece, will be tried at a later date.
