Recorded jail calls played for jurors at Saskatoon firearms trafficking trial
CBC
Corey Amber Paddy knew that Saskatoon police suspected her of dealing firearms two months before she was arrested.
On Wednesday at Saskatoon Court of King's Bench, jurors at the 25-year-old's firearms trafficking trial heard a recorded call between Paddy and her boyfriend, Brett Karol. Karol later pleaded guilty to a raft of firearms charges and was sentenced to five years.
Paddy is charged with eight firearms-related offences.
In February 2020, Karol was on remand at the Saskatoon jail on matters unrelated to Paddy's current charges when he called her. The call was littered with profanity and street slang, including "strap," which an agreed statement of facts says is a slang term for firearms.
On that call, Paddy begins by complaining that she lost all her money and dope "as a b---h holding it got arrested by Squishy's place."
Karol responds, "That's OK, I lost like seven grand when I got picked up, and a bunch of guns."
Paddy then adds that she's "always under investigation for fucking trafficking guns."
They begin talking about "straps" and moving them out of storage. Karol then specifies that he wanted "the one in the guitar bag," which he said is his favourite one.
Earlier Wednesday, Det. Sgt. Matt Ingrouille testified about how Paddy came to be charged with her current offences.
At the time, he was with the gangs and guns unit. The unit had arrested Karol in April 2020 after a domestic complaint. That led to a traffic stop, which yielded cocaine, meth and two sawed-off .22 rifles.
Further investigation led to a search of Karol's apartment, then to a unit at Britebox Storage on Wanuskewin Road. Ingrouille showed surveillance video from the unit, in which Karol and Paddy are seen moving items to and from the unit.
Police eventually recovered firearms, weapon parts and ammunition from the unit.
Under cross-examination by defence lawyer Kimbal MacMillan, Ingrouille confirmed that the footage showed Karol making multiple trips to the unit on his own, or with another unidentified man. The footage also showed Paddy going there seven times with Karol.
Jurors watched footage of the pair transferring a variety of household items from a U-haul into a storage unit. Jurors had heard earlier that the various weapons and ammunition were stored in the guitar case, a gun locker and a variety of totes.
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