‘He said he couldn’t breathe’: Misha Pavelick’s ex-girlfriend testifies at murder trial

When she headed out to the party at Kinookimaw campground that night in 2006, B.V. said there was no expectation there would be a fight, and she didn’t expect Misha Pavelick to get hurt.

On Tuesday, the second week continued in the trial of the man accused of killing Pavelick on the May long weekend in 2006. The accused was under 18 at the time, so he cannot be publicly named as per the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Witnesses who were young persons at the time are also not being named.

Read more:

• ‘We stabbed a guy’: Witnesses at Misha Pavelick murder trial say accused killer bragged
• Uninvited guests, a grad party, an ex-girlfriend: Crown lawyer lays out case in Misha Pavelick trial
• Four women add their memories from the night Misha Pavelick died

B.V. had dated Pavelick on and off for a couple of years, but said they had been split for four or five months by the time of the Miller grad party that year. At that time, she had a new boyfriend — Perkins.

According to her testimony on Tuesday, her carload of people met up with another couple groups at a gas station on North Albert Street in Regina. B.V. said the accused was there, other witnesses have said the same.

First, B.V. said she and her car went to a friend’s cabin at Regina Beach for a bit, then continued on to the party at the campground.

B.V. said she originally didn’t think Pavelick was going to be at the party. She said Pavelick didn’t like her new boyfriend and had talked about wanting to fight him. So, she said she began to get nervous at the gate to the campground because she saw Kyle Friday there and thought Pavelick might be around.

She said the group walked down into the campground to the main area where a bonfire and several people were. She saw Pavelick across the fire and went over to talk to him, asking him not to start a fight — she said Pavelick’s response was dismissive.

Tensions were high, witness says

The group had been there for quite a bit of time before the fight started, according to B.V. She said tensions were high, so her group was heading out to leave and then Pavelick was there. She said she was facing Pavelick with Perkins behind her, that someone from behind pushed her and then Pavelick hit Perkins with a bottle.

B.V. told court that all three of them went down onto the ground, and the two boys were scuffling on top of her. At that point, she said there were fights everywhere.

When she got up, B.V. said she and Pavelick moved off to the side and she was yelling at him because he’d been hitting her.

B.V. wasn’t sure exactly what happened after that — she said she thought she and Pavelick must have separated. Then when she turned around again, Pavelick was on the ground and six guys were all around him, kicking.

She had estimated it was about five or 10 minutes between the incidents, but agreed with defence lawyer Andrew Hitchcock when he suggested it could have been much less than five minutes.

B.V. said she rushed back to Pavelick and held and protected his head in the beating, shouting at the boys to stop. She couldn’t remember if they stopped right away.

When she looked up again, she said Derek Enns was standing up with his shirt off, there was blood everywhere, and people were screaming.

B.V. said she saw Pavelick get up and stumble away, and she went over to two girls she knew as everyone was trying to figure out what was going on.

‘I was holding onto his hand’

When she turned around, B.V. said Pavelick was already on the ground — she couldn’t remember if they knew Pavelick had been stabbed at this point, just that he was hurt.

“I was holding onto his hand and his eyes were watering, and he said he couldn’t breathe,” said B.V., her voice hitching as she described the events in court.

B.V. said she called Pavelick’s dad and told him what happened. She stayed with Pavelick until first responders came, and when the ambulance left back to Regina, she followed it.

“I didn’t know that he didn’t make it until we went to the hospital,” she said.

B.V. identified the accused as one of the people who’d been kicking Pavelick, and said she’d seen him at the party before that. But her attention was drawn to Enns, she said she didn’t see the accused or Scott Nelson after that, and didn’t see where Perkins went either.

She said she also didn’t see any weapons in anyone’s hands during the attacks.

When Hitchcock questioned B.V. about what happened that night, she said she’d told the story a few times and spoke to police about it many times. Hitchcock suggested that conversations she’d had with others may have affected her memories.

He played a video of a conversation she had with RCMP the day after the attack. In it, 16-year-old B.V. said she didn’t know who the guys were who were attacking Pavelick, that one of the guys had sideburns but she wasn’t too sure. In that clip, she didn’t mention the accused or Scott Nelson.

B.V. also agreed with Hitchcock that, in her statement to police at the time, she’d said Perkins wouldn’t tell police the truth because Scott Nelson would do something if he did.