Kalen Schlatter’s defence lawyer called to the stand Thursday a man they claimed murdered Tess Richey in a Church St. laneway after Schlatter left in the early hours of Nov. 25, 2017.

The man, who can only be identified as J.G. due to a publication ban, testified that he was walking around the Church-Wellesley neighbourhood at around 3 a.m.

The Crown alleges Schlatter sexually assaulted and strangled 22-year-old Richey between 4:14 a.m. and 5 a.m. in a laneway off Church St., north of Dundonald St.

Schlatter, 23, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and testified that Richey was alive when he left her in the laneway by the stairwell where her body was found four days later.

J.G. testified that he first saw Richey at a hot dog stand on Church St. around 3 a.m. when she called out to him: “Hey, I want to talk to you!” He said she was being pulled in two different directions by the two people she was with, Schlatter and her friend Ryley Simard, and the trio ended up walking north on Church St.

He was curious about why the woman wanted to get his attention, he said, but also didn’t want to seem like he was following them.

He walked to Dundonald St. where he saw the trio again at around 3:20 a.m. He said Richey called out to him again and gestured, which can be seen on surveillance camera, but that Schlatter told her not to talk to him.

“I just shyly smiled at her,” said J.G., who added that he didn’t stop to talk to her because of his social anxiety and awkwardness.

J.G. testified that he has autism and Asperger’s Syndrome, as well as other unspecified mental health issues. He agreed with the Crown suggestion that he was “lonely,” which is why he went for walks in the neighbourhood, and that he rarely got attention from women.

J.G. testified Thursday that he told police in an interview that he “was looking for sex, or something” that night.

Schlatter’s defence lawyer Lydia Riva suggested that J.G. believed Richey was sexually interested in him and that he began following her.

J.G. denied this, saying that he just wanted to find out what she seemed to want to talk with him about; sex was only a distant possibility.

Surveillance video shows the man continuing to walk through the neighbourhood. The defence suggested he is looking for Richey, but he said he could not remember. He is last seen on security videos heading in the direction of his home at 3:39 a.m. He testified that he went home.

Security video shows Richey and Schlatter walking hand in hand into the laneway between 582 Church St. and 584 Church St. at 4:14 a.m. and Schlatter leaving alone at 5 a.m.

A police officer has testified there is no one else seen entering the laneway on security cameras after that.

The defence suggested that J.G. was watching Richey and Schlatter from the backyard of 584 Church St., where a business called Zendogs is located.

J.G. denied this and said he didn’t know anything about the Zendogs area.

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The laneway where Richey’s body was found at the bottom of a stairwell is separated from the Zendogs yard by a tall wooden fence.

“When the man left, you realized you had an opportunity,” suggested Schlatter’s defence lawyer Riva.

He said no.

“You came over the gate and you thought Ms. Richey would be happy to see you,” she said.

“I’m sorry, what gate are you talking about?” J.G. asked.

“You were surprised that she rejected you, she didn’t want to see you,” Riva said. “You assaulted her and there was a struggle and you killed her.”

“No, ma’am,” J.G. said.

He said that he went to police on Dec. 1, 2017, after reading an article about Richey’s body being discovered which said that it was initially being considered “death by misadventure.”

But he thought it was suspicious, because he’d seen her with people that night. He later gave police a DNA sample.

His DNA was not found on Richey’s clothes or body, according to a forensic biologist who has already testified.

The trial continues.