The first witness in the criminal trial of the suspended defense lawyer from Ottawa, James Bowie to “take care” of her.
At that time, the court heard that Bowie was being investigated by the Ontario Law Society, and that he was the object of covering the media about the accusations of his former client Leanne Aubin that he offered his legal services in exchange for sex oral.
Bowie, 41, declared herself innocent to harass the first witness of the crown in the case and try to get a firearm for him, as well as extort Aubin and threaten to kill her.
The first witness cannot be identified due to a publication prohibition. The prohibition of identifying Aubin rose previously at the request of his own.
The trial before the judge of the Ontario Ontario Court, Paul Cooper, began in September, but sat alone for one day. It had to be postponed to Tuesday due to problems not related to the case.
‘He thought I had dirt on me’
Bowie and the first witness were friends who met online in 2020 and began to hang out more than usual in December 2022. Bowie was involved in controversy, and the witness was having immigration problems on which he wanted advice, he testified .
At the end of February 2023, they met at a bar, where Bowie repeatedly suggested that they helped each other with their problems and “would not take no by response,” he testified under chief exam by the assistant lawyer of the Kerry Watson crown in September.
Bowie offered him money and work under the table. She refused because she didn’t want to be indebted to him or get in danger, she testified.
He also told him that “he knows people for whom I can do sex work.” She said she knew that she was vulnerable and that she would tell her boyfriend who did sex work in the past, something she had previously trusted Bowie, the witness testified.
“He was the only person who left him, and thought he had dirt over me with sex work, who would fulfill what he was asking,” he told court.
‘She is out to get me’
Bowie told the witness that he wanted a gun to “someone or he to take care [Aubin]”She said.
“I need you to end with this. I’m going to lose my life … my license … Everything. She wants me to bury me. She is out of bringing me. She wants me to die. I need her to leave,” Bowie testified Bowie He told him about Aubin.
The witness was surprised and told him that he didn’t want any part. After the meeting, she felt scared.
“Up to this point that I have never seen [Bowie] unravel. And seeing someone who used to respect personally and professionally … depravate and talk about wanting to commit a crime, it was a mind for me, “he testified.
She stopped responding to her calls and messages.
Is tracking and GPS devices in your car
On April 2, 2023, he said he saw Bowie outside a supermarket, he bent down so he could not see it, then led to another supermarket using an unconventional route. When he finished buying in the next location, he once again saw Bowie in the parking lot and he told him they had to talk.
They had a conversation in their car in which “Pinky promised” to keep in touch to appease him, he testified. When he came home, he saw him again in a nearby parking lot of the Church.
Suspecting that she had somehow tracking her, she went to her car and found a tracking device inside a wheel. She said she sent her a text message and he admitted that it was his.
Then, he “constantly” bombed her with texts and threats to which she did not respond, she testified.
Then, on April 17, 2023, he found another GPS device under his car. That same day, a former boss told him that someone had called for information on her using Bowie’s number. That day also the witness asked his roommate to call an unknown number that someone was harassing her and listened to Bowie’s voice on the line.
It was then that he broke and “finally” called the police, he told the Court.
He didn’t help Bowie, he had no weapons
Under the interrogation by Bowie’s defense lawyer, Eric Granger, on Tuesday, the witness rejected the suggestions that he made cocaine with Bowie; He spoke or continued with plans to make surveillance to the people who had filed complaints about him, including Aubin; and maintained a revolver and a semi -automatic firearm in a storage locker.
She testified that she had not been in rehabilitation, and did not lend Bowie a book about interviews and interrogation techniques because she does not lend her books.
She said Bowie raised the issue of taking her life with a gun, but rejected Granger’s suggestion that Bowie only asked for a gun in relation to damaging himself. “He talked about a weapon on more than one occasion,” he testified.
Granger also suggested that during the conversation in his car on April 2, Bowie said something like: “Hello, look, this is going crazy, I feel like a crazy person, I’m not sure what’s going on here. Do you want to stop ?
She told court Bowie never said that.
The interrogation continued on Wednesday. The witness denied the defense suggestions that Bowie had given him one of the tracking devices, and that he had exaggerated Bowie’s harassment to the police to get him away from her. He also testified that he was convinced that Bowie could damage her, and that his fear of him continues.
Soon reexamination of the crown, he testified that he is firmly against drugs and is obliged to maintain a good moral character for reasons related to work.
The trial continues.
