Barbara Kentner was struck with a trailer hitch while out walking with her sister in 2017.
The Crown in the Brayden Bushby manslaughter trial on Monday showed the court Barbara Kentner’s statement to police in a video during the first day the accused’s manslaughter trial.
In the video recording, Kentner, 34, can be seen and heard speaking to investigators with the Thunder Bay Police Service a few months later giving a statement about the Jan. 29, 2017 incident.
Kentner died in hospital in July 2017.
The police interview was conducted at her residence due to her health conditions, police can be heard saying prior to the interview beginning.
Kentner can be heard speaking softly giving officers a recount of the incident. In the video, Barbara testifies she and her older sister, Melissa, were heading to Melissa’s son’s house on foot in the early morning hours of Jan. 29, 2017.
“We were walking down Dease Street and we were going to my nephew’s place on the corner of Cameron and McKenzie and we were almost there and I was just past Dease Street on the corner… I felt something hard hit me,” Barbara said in her statement. “I went straight to the ground and because it was windy out my sister said ‘hurry up it’s cold’ and I said ‘I just got hit by something’”
Barbara’s sister was walking ahead of her and turned around to pick up the object that had hit and bounced off her sister with her sweater sleeve, court heard.
“It was a trailer hitch,” Barbara said, adding her sister then asked her where she was hit.
“Right across the stomach and I couldn’t breathe and I fell to my knees and I looked at the car and seen some guy put his head out the window and said ‘Yeah, I got one,” Barbara said recounting the incident.
She saw the vehicle speed off and turn right on to Pruden Street.
All night, Barbara stated she couldn’t breathe or sleep and asked her sister to take her to the hospital, but stated her sister wanted to shower and eat before going. The women put the trailer hitch into a plastic bag and called police once they were at the hospital. Court heard Barbara underwent surgery later in the day on Jan. 29, 2017.
Court also heard directly from Melissa Kentner, 40, on Monday, who was the first Crown witness to testify.
Melissa said she was Barbara’s surety at the time and that Barbara was required to be with her at all times. Melissa stated they were coming off Dease Street, walking against the road, when they noticed a vehicle coming towards them. Babara was walking behind her.
Shortly afterward, Melissa said she heard the sounds of a metal object hitting the ground and saw her sister bent over to her knees and complain about being hit in the stomach. Another family member came to pick up the two sisters and Barbara was admitted into the hospital.
Read More: APTN News coverage of Barbara Kentner
In the Crown’s opening remarks, Crown attorney Andrew Sadler laid out their case against Bushby, stating the trial is about causation.
By pleading guilty to aggravated assault, Bushby admits he threw the trailer hitch at Kentner. Kentner suffered a perforated bowel as a result.
“There is no dispute Ms. Kentner had suffered significant health issues before she was struck by the trailer hitch,” Sadler said, adding the surgeon also told Barbara her underlying liver issues put her at risk of death both from the trauma of the injury itself and the operation required to treat it.
A post-mortem completed three days after Kentner died determined her death was caused by complications arising from the blunt force injury to her abdomen and liver failure was a contributing factor, Sadler said, adding the Crown must prove being struck with the trailer hitch was a contributing factor in her death.
The trial will continue on Tuesday, Nov. 3 with a pathologist testifying in the afternoon.
Karen Edwards reports on court and crime under the Local Journalism initiative, which is funded by the Government of Canada. She’s originally from southern Ontario where she obtained a print and broadcast journalism diploma from Durham College. Shortly after graduating, Karen worked at local newspaper in a small northern Alberta town. She joined the TbNewsWatch team in 2020 after spending nearly two years covering court and general news for an online news publication in B.C.’s Southern Interior.
