EDMONTON - The sparks were flying this morning at the trial of 3 people charged with killing an Edmonton cabbie. 27-year-old Karl Strongman, 25-year-old Deidre Baptiste and 29-year-old Ronald Crane all face a charge of first-degree murder in the stabbing death of a cabbie. The three are also charged with unlawful confinement and robbery. Mohammed Youssef died on April 8th, 2005. His body, stuffed in the trunk of his cab, wasn’t found until 5-days later. One of the people to turn evidence against the accused was 30-year-old Corinne Saddleback. She took the stand on Thursday and Friday, saying that 2 of the alleged killers admitted to her they’d just killed a cabbie, with one of them telling her he had blood on his boots. Saddleback was back on the stand this morning, this time under cross-examination. It didn’t take long for defence lawyer Naeem Rauf to question the woman’s credibility. He pointed out to Saddleback that she was late again for court, wasting everyone’s time. Saddleback, chewing on a wad of gum, said, “yeah, so?”
Rauf pointed out that Saddleback had changed her story a number of times, and lied outright. Saddleback, her arms folded, said she didn’t want to be in court, and that she was wasting everyone’s time. She went on to say “I’m ready to have a nervous breakdown over these questions”. However, she maintained that Strongman admitted killing a cabbie, but that when he made the confession, she didn’t believe him. The judge adjourned the trial for a few minutes after Saddleback said “I don’t remember nothing … and I’m not going to say anymore until I have my lawyer here.”