'They said she was going to be let go,' says woman whose car was used in Saskatoon murder case

The woman whose car was used to take Taya Sinclair to the Saskatoon house where she was killed says she was trying to help Sinclair.

"They said she was going to be let go, so I thought I would help by lending them my car," Melissa Laprise testified on Friday.

She was the last witness called this week at the trial for Michael Smillie, 63, who is charged with first-degree murder in Sinclair's death in March 2022. His trial in front of Justice Andrew Davis in Saskatoon Court of King's Bench is scheduled to continue for two more weeks.

Court has heard this week that a drug dealer, Chelsey Crowe, believed Sinclair's boyfriend owed her money, and lured him to an apartment in Saskatoon where he was tied up and beaten before being taken to Crowe's apartment on Avenue K South. His phone was used to lure Sinclair there too, to see if she had any money.

Sinclair, 24, was also confined against her will, then taken to Smillie's house on Avenue C North and tied up in the basement. Smillie was present in the house, along with an unknown number of other people.

At some point while Sinclair was there, she was killed. The boyfriend was let go from the Avenue K apartment.

Laprise, 38, said she was in the Avenue K apartment smoking meth with Crowe when she realized Sinclair was underneath a blanket on the floor and the boyfriend was in the closet.

Crowe was charged with manslaughter, but has pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of assaulting Sinclair, as well as aggravated assault on the boyfriend. She awaits sentencing at the end of the month.

Laprise said when Sinclair emerged from under the blanket, she was bleeding from a wound on her face.

She was getting very bad vibes from the situation, Laprise said.

"Just praying that nothing would happen to me and that she would be OK," Laprise testified when Crown prosecutor Michael Pilon asked her how she was feeling.

At some point, Stephanie Halkett-Stevenson came to the apartment while Laprise was there. Halkett-Stevenson is serving an 18-year sentence after she pleaded guilty in November 2024 to manslaughter in Sinclair's death and aggravated assault on the boyfriend.

Laprise said she remembers Halkett-Stevenson leaving the apartment with Sinclair and Laprise's spouse, who drove the car. She said she stayed in the apartment, and she didn't know where they were going.

Her recollection on many details was sparse.