A man and woman charged together for a violent home invasion in St. John’s in 2017 had very different outcomes after their trial this month: one was acquitted of all charges, while the other was convicted.
Gina Rosemary Penney, 32, and Michael Samson, 33, were tried together in Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court in St. John’s over four days starting June 18. They were each charged with robbery, break and enter, assault with a weapon and breach of court orders in connection with an incident at a home on Thorburn Road on March 5 of last year.
Police had been called to the home around 6 a.m., finding a man lying on the floor with a puncture wound on his back. Believing his missing truck to have been stolen, police located Penney driving it in Mount Pearl with Samson in the back seat.
Police found the victim’s empty wallet in a pouch on the back of the driver’s seat, and two full take-out coffee cups in the front console. On the floor in the back they found a jacket with possible blood stains, but the court heard investigators had chosen not to examine it forensically, choosing to focus instead on the hoodie Samson was wearing. The victim’s blood was later found on the sleeve of the hoodie.
Police also learned the truck hadn’t been stolen: Penney was the victim’s common-law spouse at the time and had been driving the vehicle with his consent.
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The victim testified he had been asleep on the couch in his living room when he opened his eyes to see Samson standing over him with a crowbar, saying he was there to collect $5,000 in drug money owed to him by someone in the house. The victim denied any money was owed, but took $60 from his pocket and laid it on the coffee table. He said Samson had demanded his wallet and the pair got into an altercation, leaving the victim with a laceration to the head, abrasions to his eye and a three-centimetre cut to his back which required staples. He said he had given Samson his wallet after Samson had stabbed him in the back with the crowbar, and Samson left.
The victim said he had around $2,200 in $100 bills in his wallet, having been paid in cash for a vehicle repair job he had completed earlier in the day.
When Penney took the stand, she said she and Samson had been childhood friends and had been romantically involved. She said she had left their home at around 3 a.m. and had gone to Tim Horton’s, then picked up Samson at his home.
“The two did some drugs but she ran out of clean needles,” Justice Donald Burrage said in bringing down his decision. “She kept her drug paraphernalia in a backpack but had left it in the dining room near the back door of (the victim’s) residence. She then decided to drop Mr. Samson off so that he might obtain clean needles. According to Ms. Penney, she was high and did not want to risk going in herself as, if spotted, (the victim) would take the truck from her.”
Penney said she had dropped Samson off at the home, gone to Tim Horton’s, then picked him back up on the street. He seemed shaken and was worried the victim was going to call the police, she said.
Penney admitted she had lied in a statement to police and hadn’t mentioned dropping Samson off at the home.
Though he said he didn’t believe Penney’s reasons for dropping Samson off at the home, Burrage said he was left with reasonable doubt by her testimony. He noted Penney and the victim had been getting along at the time of the incident and since he was providing for her, there was no need for her to jeopardize the relationship. Police photos showed the backpack containing her drug paraphernalia was indeed inside the house, the judge said, and the coffee cups in the truck corroborated her evidence that she went to Tim Horton’s.
Burrage said he had been left with too much doubt as to whether Penney had known the victim had a large amount of cash, that she had told Samson about it and knew what was going to happen when she dropped him off. As a result, he acquitted Penney of the charges.
When it comes to Samson, Burrage said he was satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt of his guilt, based on the victim’s testimony and the DNA evidence. He convicted him of the charges.
Samson will return for sentencing at a later date.
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Twitter: @tara_bradbury
