Hugh McIntosh, 52, has been found guilty of first-degree murder and attempted murder in connection with a drug-related shooting incident two years ago.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/RCMP

A Kamloops man will spend at least 25 years in prison after being found guilty of first-degree murder and attempted murder in connection with a drug-related shooting incident two years ago.

On Thursday, March 18, a jury found Hugh McIntosh, 52, guilty on both counts. A sentencing date will be set on March 22. A first-degree murder conviction carries with it a minimum sentence of 25 years in prison before parole eligibility is available.

McIntosh had been charged alongside Gordie Braaten, 38, who on March 12 pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter with a firearm. Braaten had been scheduled to stand trial next week on charges of first-degree murder and attempted murder. A date to sentence Braaten will be set in April.

The shootings occurred on Feb. 15, 2019, at a residence in Brocklehurst. Jason Glover was killed and Kelly Callfas was left with gunshot wounds to her face.

The jury deliberated for three days following a month-long trial that involved more than two-dozen witnesses, including Callfas.

The Crown’s case hinged largely on her testimony that McIntosh had shot her and Glover, as well as the fact her DNA was recovered from McIntosh’s belt, which was seized when he was arrested in Langley in the days following the shootings.

At trial, Crown prosecutors Sarah Firestone and Andrew Duncan laid out their case to the jury, alleging McIntosh fired at least seven shots at both Callfas and her roommate, Glover, at their Tranquille Road townhouse.

“This is a trial unlike many of the first-degree murder trials that have gone before it. One of the intended victims is alive,” Duncan told the jury.

In his closing arguments, defence lawyer Jordan Watt described Callfas as an unreliable witness with a criminal record who couldn’t be trusted as she was acting in her own interests by making a deal with police. He pointed to inconsistencies and conflicting statements she had given about the incident, including that she told emergency responders at the time she didn’t see the shooter because she had been asleep.

“What if that’s the truth? Can you be sure it’s not?” Watt posed to the jury.

Watt also argued Callfas’ heavy drug use made her recollection unreliable and stressed it would be dangerous to convict on her testimony alone and conclude that McIntosh was guilty of pulling the trigger beyond a reasonable doubt.

At trial, Callfas, 52, testified that McIntosh and Braaten were waiting for her when she returned home on Feb. 15, 2019, telling her and Glover, 39, they needed to talk to them in her basement bedroom.

Court heard Callfas, who testified via video conference, had known the two men for years as all three were involved in the drug trade, and that she had sold and used crystal meth and heroin for years.

Braaten, she said, had been accusing her of knowing the identity of the person who had broken into her home and stolen $20,000 while she was out of the house earlier that month, an accusation she denied.

More that half of the stolen cash was owed to her dealer, who went by the name JD.

In the bedroom, Callfas said, Braaten asked for the money she owed JD, insisting she knew the thief’s identity. Callfas said she gave Braaten $9,000, but he threw it to the ground.

She said Braaten got up to leave and McIntosh, who was standing in the doorway, left with him, only to return a few seconds later and shoot Glover in the back of the head and her in the face, head and arms while she was on her bed.

A female friend upstairs, who was visiting and who had let two men enter the home, testified she heard an argument, followed by gunshots. She said she didn’t get a good look at the men when they entered, but noted one was older than the other. When the shots rang out, she said she hid under the kitchen table. She eventually went downstairs to find Glover and Callfas shot, but still alive, blood all over the room and Callfas on the phone with 9-1-1.

Glover died afterwards in hospital.

— This story was originally published by Kamloops This Week.

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