PORT HAWKESBURY, N.S. — A Nova Scotia fisherman who has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder told police he wanted to protect his son-in-law from prosecution when he gave them a false statement about who was driving the boat that rammed the victim's vessel.
In a videotaped interview with the RCMP, Joseph James Landry says he shot at Phillip Boudreau's speedboat because he and other crew members were furious that Boudreau had cut their lobster traps.
Landry says in the video played for a jury in Nova Scotia Supreme Court on Thursday that he believed one of his four shots fired from a lever-action rifle hit Boudreau in the hip.
But after swearing under oath to tell the truth, Landry says he wasn't the one driving the Twin Maggies when it rammed Boudreau's boat on June 1, 2013, in Petit de Grat harbour in Cape Breton and left it to sink.
That contradicts an earlier statement he gave to police in which he said he was the one driving the fishing vessel when it struck the speedboat.
Landry says he changed his statement because he wanted to protect his son-in-law Dwayne Matthew Samson, the captain of the Twin Maggies who is also charged with second-degree murder, and Craig Landry, another crew member who is charged with accessory after the fact.
"I wanted to cover for my son-in-law and Craig," he said to a police officer after swearing on a Bible.
Landry had earlier told the RCMP that he was also concerned for the well-being of his daughter Carla Samson, the owner of the Twin Maggies who is charged with accessory after the fact.
Dwayne Samson, Carla Samson and Craig Landry have yet to stand trial.
Joseph James Landry said Boudreau appeared to be "in pretty good shape" after he had fired the four shots at him, adding that the victim was holding a bar in his hand as the Twin Maggies was bearing down on him.
Landry said when the Twin Maggies first steamed towards Boudreau's speedboat, the victim pushed the oncoming vessel away, but on the second run the speedboat was swamped.
"He looked pretty scared," Landry said of Boudreau. "He was turning pretty white."
Boudreau's boat sank at that location and that was the last he saw of the victim, Landry said.
The Crown has told the jury that Joseph James Landry used a fishing gaff to drag Boudreau out to sea. Prosecutor Steve Drake has said that the three-member crew of the Twin Maggies then tied an anchor to Boudreau's neck and upper arms after his body turned face down in the water, dropping him in an area with a water depth of about 22 metres.
The body of the 43-year-old Boudreau has not been found.
