Jury to begin deliberating Tuesday in trial of ex-boyfriend of Natasha Thompson
CBC
A jury will begin deliberating Tuesday in the case of a Hamilton man charged with shooting his girlfriend 10 times during an outdoor argument at their east end home.
Mark Joseph Champagne, 45, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of Natasha Thompson, who the court has heard he lived with at 17 Lang St. on Nov. 6, 2017. But the Crown says she was trying to get him to leave.
During the weeks-long trial, numerous witnesses have testified that they heard Champagne and Thompson in a heated argument outside their unit in the townhouse complex, and that someone who looked like Champagne appeared to shoot Thompson several times on the front step.
Champagne, who is defending himself in the trial, has said that the shooting was accidental, drug related, and that there was more than one shooter.
Hana Thompson, the victim's daughter who was 16 at the time, testified that she'd overheard the couple arguing numerous times. Just before the shooting, she said in a recorded interview with police, her mom told Champagne to leave for good and that she was having an abortion.
"I was half asleep and all I heard was this big bang, which was the gun," she said. "I woke up and I saw out my window that he was running."
Then "I ran downstairs, and I saw my mom on the floor."