Article content continued

Photo by Michelle Berg / Saskatoon StarPhoenix

Jackson, 24, told court Thursday that Cross-Whitstone was the driver on Aug. 9, 2016. She said Cross-Whitstone had been drinking, was driving “recklessly” when they were heading home from the river and swerved off the road at one point, causing one of the vehicle’s tires to pop. She said she was feeling drunk and tired and fell asleep in the back of the SUV shortly after that.

Cross-Whitstone, 18, told the jury he’d been driving drunk and had a .22-calibre rifle in the back of the SUV.

He said when police interviewed him 24 hours after Boushie died he was “half cut” because he’d had so much to drink and didn’t tell the truth about drinking or having a gun. He said he also lied about those things while under oath at Stanley’s preliminary hearing in April 2017.

“It’s not normal for someone to see something like that. I was terrified. I didn’t know what to say. I was young, I was stupid, I’ve changed a lot since that happened and I’m willing to face the consequences,” Cross-Whitstone told court.

“I was scared for myself and I was scared for the people there, that they might get in trouble, and I knew I was wrong, but that’s just how I was feeling over there because I was scared out of my mind, I didn’t know what to say.”

Photo by Michelle Berg / Saskatoon StarPhoenix

Cross-Whitstone told the jury that, after leaving the river, he drove the SUV onto three farms. At the first farm, no one left the vehicle, he said. At the second farm, he said he and Meechance attempted to steal a truck and he used his rifle to try to break the window, but the rifle broke.