Joedin Leger’s girlfriend questioned over cash, drugs as Moncton trial continues | CBC News

Joedin Leger’s girlfriend faced cross-examination Tuesday over drugs, cash and weapons found by police in their Moncton home after the 18-year-old’s death in 2022.

Chantal Boudreau was the 19th witness to testify at the jury trial of Riley Phillips. The 20-year-old faces a charge of second-degree murder. It’s alleged he killed 18-year-old Joedin Leger on April 25, 2022. 

Boudreau testified Monday that she awoke around 6 o’clock that morning to Leger saying he had been shot. Then she saw blood come from his mouth before he collapsed outside their Logan Lane duplex.

On Tuesday, Boudreau faced a series of questions from Phillips’ lawyer, Brian Munro, over whether she was selling drugs and if that was the source of thousands of dollars in cash in the duplex. 

She denied selling drugs, saying the cash came from her job with a telecommunications firm, as well as from the sale of a property in Bathurst, where she lived before moving to Moncton in 2021.

She also denied selling or buying guns when Munro asked about messages that reference guns and ammunition sent through her Facebook account. She said Leger used her phone and could have sent messages through her account.

Munro pointed to messages that refer to Leger in the third person, asking if they were instead her messages.

“I can’t speak to something that’s two years old,” she responded after a question about a message about firearms to a person from the Bathurst area. “After what happened, my memory unfortunately blocked a lot of things that I saw. So I don’t know.”

The questions also turned to how the relationship between Boudreau, now 42, and 18-year-old Leger began.

Boudreau testified Monday a mutual friend introduced her to Leger after her apartment on MacBeth Avenue in Moncton was broken into. She said Tuesday that he stayed with her from the first day they met. 

Munro asked about the break-in and whether drugs were stolen. She first said no until Munro pressed further.

“Might’ve been Joedin’s weed, but that’s about it,” Boudreau said.

Boudreau later said there were actually two break-ins at her apartment, one in March before she met Leger and another in April, when his marijuana and her safe with about $2,000 in cash were stolen.

Munro probed the $7,935 in cash, some in Ziploc bags, in their duplex. Boudreau testified that she liked to stash money throughout the home, saying her “OCD” led to arranging it in certain ways, but that there was no specific amount she would keep in each bag. 

“If it doesn’t go in the bank, I’ll hide it all over the house,” Boudreau said.

Munro turned to the guns found in the kitchen of the duplex, one a homemade weapon and the other a sawed off shotgun. During parts of her testimony, Boudreau said Leger was “very respectful” with the weapons around her. 

She described being uncomfortable with firearms. She agreed with Munro’s assertion that Leger had a “fetish,” or “fascination with guns.”

She said she believed the homemade gun fired blanks, because that’s what Leger told her.

Munro asked if she was questioned by police on April 22, three days before Leger’s death, about a car that had bullet holes. Initially, Boudreau said she didn’t recall it. 

“Oh, yes, the police showed up at my door looking for Joedin,” Boudreau said when Munro pushed. She said Leger had nothing to do with the damage. 

She also faced questions about another interaction with police, this time on the day of the celebration of life for Leger in May 2022. She said police stopped the car she was driving that day that had several youths who were Leger’s friends. 

A shotgun was found in the trunk of the car. She said she didn’t know the gun was in the vehicle.

Cross-examination to continue

Munro also asked about vaping products found in the home, which she said had been given to her by a man. He asked how she received the items. 

“In my hand,” she replied.

Boudreau said she couldn’t recall the name of the person who gave her the vape products, or where the transaction happened. 

At times during the cross-examination of Boudreau, a juror smirked and appeared to silently laugh at the exchanges.

The cross-examination continues Wednesday.