(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)

TESTIFYING AGAINST THOSE WHO ALLEGEDLY HELPED HER

KAMLOOPS - A woman at the centre of a home invasion robbery is expected to give evidence this week against three men who allegedly helped her rob her ex-boyfriend.

Joadth Anderson, Travis Kelly, and James Paulin face multiple charges including unlawful confinement and assault with a weapon from the Jan. 23 robbery of Justin Stanley.
Kirsten Hunt is already serving time after being convicted for her role and she is scheduled to testify against them.

Kamloops Supreme Court Justice Lauri Ann Fenlon has already heard Stanley returned home around 1 a.m. to find four people wearing masks. He was assaulted and held while they rummaged through his home putting electronics and other items into garbage bags before leaving with them.

Throughout the week court heard from Hunt’s friend Jody Hoffman. She said she spent time before the home invasion with Hunt, Kelly and ‘Tiny’ and took methamphetamine with them. She drove them to a park near Stanley’s house just prior to the incident, and rejoined them again later.

She said she helped ’repackage’ the stolen items but didn't know where they came from. Hours after the home invasion, she returned to Stanley’s home to pick up more stuff while Kelly and Hunt waited in the car.

Once near the house, she was immediately confronted by people in the home who accused her of being involved.
Hoffman said they chased her outside, stole her purse, and yelled at her.

Kelly and Hunt then exited the vehicle. Kelly fled down the street but Hunt began yelling back to the angry group. Hoffman said she got back in her car, but when they wouldn’t let her leave—even entering her vehicle—Hoffman told them the stolen items were in the trunk and let them take them back.

Hours after the incident Hoffman and two men, who she could not name, stopped at Surplus Herbies. Hoffman bought bear spray while one of the men bought a machete. The three left the store and the man hid the machete in the arm of his sleeve before getting back in the vehicle where a third man waited. An employee of the North Shore store thought it suspicious and called RCMP and described what she had witnessed.

Hoffman said they didn't make it 10 blocks from the store when the police pulled over her vehicle and searched it, questioning her about the bear spray.

“I was supposed to go camping,” Hoffman said. She also denied any knowledge of the male purchasing the machete.

“I wasn’t aware of any purchase anyone but myself made,” she said. Hoffman also denies knowing any of the three men, stating that she simply gave them a ride.

Hoffman was eventually arrested and met with her father, a lawyer, before being questioned by police.

She originally refused to talk to police but changed her mind after Hunt, someone she had thought of as a friend, told police she was the 'getaway driver.'

Hoffman was often evasive while on the stand, refusing to directly answer questions from the Crown or defence with any certainty, even doubting a transcript of her own statement to police.

“There is no way I could remember the exact words that were used by somebody over a year ago,” she said.

The Crown showed Hoffman her own text messages from Kelly. In one, he asked if anyone was arrested and where the stolen goods were. Hoffman said the text was from Kelly's phone but didn't know if he actually texted her.

Hoffman said at no point did she ask her friends if they were involved in the incident.

After raising her voice to the defence during cross-examination, Fenlon had to remind Hoffman that the defence had the right to question her.Defence lawyers asked Hoffman about her own criminal history and use of methamphetamines. Hoffman said she took the drug while with Hunt and Kelly, just prior to them entering the house.

“If I was using, she was definitely using,” Hoffman said about Hunt.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Cavelle Layes at clayes@infotelnews.ca or call (250) 319-7494.

News from © iNFOnews, 2014