'Where would I go?': Witness at 3-man murder trial says she was scared to flee on night Reno Lee was killed

A Crown witness who testified to being with Reno Lee on the night police say he was killed was questioned Wednesday about why she didn't flee the situation when she had the chance.

Lawyers for the three men accused of killing Lee — Andrew Bellegarde, Bronson Gordon and Daniel Theodore — took turns cross-examining the witness, the last called by the prosecution in the six-week trial, which began at the Court of Queen's Bench in Regina on Jan. 22.

The three accused have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and committing an indignity to a body in the April 2015 death and dismemberment of Lee.

Lee's remains were found on the Star Blanket First Nation on April 30, 2015, but it was later determined he died in Regina.

During her testimony Tuesday, the witness  — whose identity is under a publication ban — told court she was in the house on Regina's Garnet Street where Lee was killed and his body dismembered. She testified it was her idea to dispose of Lee's body on a reserve. 

On Wednesday morning, the witness testified that after she drove two of the accused to Star Blanket First Nation on the morning of April 17, 2015 to bury Lee's remains, she took her vehicle through a car wash.

She later showed police where Lee's remains had been buried.

The woman was arrested in April 2015.

Defence lawyers questioned why, despite being alone in her vehicle on at least two occasions and speaking with store employees away from the accused, she did not flee or ask for help.

"Because I was scared," the witness responded. "Where would I go?"

Under the same line of questioning, the woman said "You're not safe when you go to the police."

At another point, defence counsel asked if there was anything stopping her from leaving when she was alone.

"Physically, no," she said.

The defence also pointed out that three individuals left the Garnet Street house while the woman stayed upstairs, even as two of the accused allegedly had Lee confined in the basement.

Court heard the woman and Lee — who court has previously heard was a meth dealer — returned from a drug run in Alberta the morning of April 16, 2015. The witness testified on Tuesday that on that day, she arranged a meeting between Lee and Gordon so the men could discuss working together in the drug-dealing business.

The woman said Gordon was the one who raised the idea for the meeting with Lee.

However, the defence questioned whether it was possible that the witness had actually suggested the meeting. The lawyers also suggested she arranged for Lee to be set up and robbed, citing her ties to the Saskatchewan Warriors and Indian Mafia street gangs.

The defence pointed out the woman helped Lee bring approximately half a million dollars worth of crystal meth back from Alberta, and she herself was living in desperate conditions.

"You can suggest what you want, but that's not correct," the witness said.

The defence will continue its cross-examination Thursday, when the Crown is also expected to close its case.