Witness, 19, describes homicide victim's final moments to Saskatoon court

A young woman convicted of manslaughter in the death of Hailey Belanger Weeseekase testified in Court of King's Bench on Tuesday that she saw co-accused Rene Merasty with his hand around the young woman's neck shortly before her death.

Merasty, 24, is facing a second-degree murder charge in a judge-alone trial in connection with Weeseekase's death in July 2020.

The witness, 19, was convicted of manslaughter in Weeseekase's death more than a year ago. She cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act because she was a youth at the time of the offence.

The witness said she and Weeseekase, 19, were a part of the Last Kings gang. The defence has told CBC Merasty was once a Last Kings member, but wasn't at the time of her death.

The witness said she had known Weeseekase for about a year before the incident, and considered her a close friend and older sister. She said she had met Merasty that day.

She said the three of them were drinking alcohol on July 11, 2020, the day Weeseekase died. Police have said Weeseekase was found dead in a car at an apartment building in the Confederation area.

According to the teenager's testimony, the three left an apartment on Avenue O and drove to another following a confrontation with a rival gang, the Terror Squad.

On the way there, the teenager testified, she asked Weeseekase whether she would like another shot of vodka. She testified Merasty responded angrily: "Did you just give her a shot? That's going to be an extra minute of torture."

Weeseekase seemed scared, the witness testified.

Later, she said, she saw through an open bathroom door Merasty and Weeseekase, who was lying on the floor with a bloody nose. The door was closed on her when she tried to enter, she said.

When she returned to help Weeseekase, she testified, she saw Merasty with a gloved hand hand wrapped around Weeseekase's neck. The handle of a plunger was stuffed "into her throat," she testified.

Soon after, she testified, Meerasty ordered her to put her own hand around Weeseekase's neck. She did so, with Merasty's foot pressed on the back of it and against Weeseekase's throat.

When Crown prosecutor Carla Dewar asked whether she felt she had any choice but to aid Merasty, she said no.

"It wasn't right," she told the court, but when someone in the gang who outranks you asks you to do something, you "do it."