Brittney Lee Irving, then 24, was found shot to death in a forested area east of Kelowna.
Image Credit: Contributed
September 19, 2013 - 3:03 PM
KELOWNA – The only witness who dealt drugs to both Brittney Irving and the man alleged to have shot and killed her testified today in Kelowna Supreme Court.
Former pot broker David Osborne told a fourteen member jury he met both Irving and Joelon Verma coincidentally at a Rutland tattoo shop about a week prior to her disappearance. The three chatted casually in what he described as a “chance meeting” lasting no more than 10 minutes before they all left in separate vehicles.
Verma is charged with first degree murder in the April 2010 shooting of Brittney Lee Irving, found dead from four gunshots in the woods east of Kelowna.
The next time Osborne saw Irving was April 6, 2010 — the day she is alleged to have gone missing. He said they met just before noon at a gas station parking lot by the Costco in Rutland and he gave her three pounds of marijuana. Irving appeared normal, he said, but was scrambling to get enough supply for a 70 pound deal in which he was to
make $10,000.
That money never came, he said, despite their plans to meet up after Irving closed the deal.
“She would call me when she was done,” he said.
Two hours went by before he noticed something was wrong and messaged her: “How are you making out?” followed by, “Worried haven't heard from you.”
“At that point I was getting very concerned,” Osborne said.
He then messaged Verma asking if he knew what happened to Irving, referring to her as: “that girl we were with the other day”
Verma replied: “What girl?”
The following day Osborne and Verma met in person to discuss the money owed.
“He said he would check around for me... he asked me if I was fucked if I lost that money,” Osborne said.
He wasn't the only one expecting to hear back from Irving.
Another of her pot brokers, Tyler Sandy, also testified today. Four or five days prior to her disappearance Sandy loaned Irving a sample or "pic" of marijuana at the Safeway on Richter Street in downtown Kelowna. Irving was waiting to hear back from “her guy,” Sandy said.
“She said she would have an answer for me in about 15 minutes,” he recalls, but never heard from her.
In cross-examination defence lawyer Alexander Watt asked Sandy, “it's clear that she had a number of people she was working with?"
Sandy agreed, and testified Irving was consulting with potential buyers to fill a $100,000 order.
Defence counsel continues their cross-examination this afternoon.
To contact the reporter for this story, email Julie Whittet at jwhittet@infotelnews.ca or call (250)718-0428.
News from © iNFOnews, 2013