Rapid rate testimony in Staples trial

The double murder trial of 51-year old Mark Staples entered its second day, with a rapid succession of witnesses. They testified about Mark Staples’ financial situation in the days leading up to the murders of his father, Bill Staples, and sister, Rhonda Borelli.

It was a laundry list of crown witnesses in court Tuesday, all with similar stories.

The crown brought eight different witnesses to the stand to testify that Mark Staples either owed them money, or owed someone else money. Those witnesses included Johanna Steenkist, a former employee who looked after the books at Mulligan’s, the golf centre owned by Mark Staples and Kevin Burtt, a former process server.

Steenkist testified that she constantly received calls from creditors demanding payment for work done at Mulligan’s Golf Centre — while Burtt told the jury that he served notice for a 200-thousand dollar bank loan, that was overdue on the property.

But the most interesting information of the day did not come from the courtroom. It came from a source with knowledge of the proceedings, who outlined the likely course that the defence will take, on Mark Staples behalf.

Lawyers will likely pursue three avenues for his defence:

First, the claim that Staples wasn’t there. They will suggest that Mark Staples has an alibi for the night he supposedly killed Bill Staples and Rhonda Borelli, and claim that he was at an event, at Mulligan’s, his struggling golf centre.

They will also go after the suggestion that Mark Staples was in desperate financial need, claiming instead, that his business was making money until the police shut it down for several weeks to search for evidence at the beginning of the golf season, in April 1998.

Finally, they may claim that there was a second person involved in the killing — pointing to testimony from an upcoming witness that will suggest that on the night Bill and Rhonda were supposedly murdered, two vehicles were seen leaving the Staples farm. One was the pickup truck belonging to Bill Staples. The other was an unidentified vehicle. If Staples and Borelli were dead, who were the two people driving those vehicles?

The Crown moved so quickly through its list today — that they ran out of witnesses available to testify. They did promise the jury however, that they will have a full day, Wednesday.