Witness says she can’t recall details about Megan Gallagher’s death

A key witness in the jury trial of Roderick Sutherland said she doesn’t remember what happened to Megan Gallagher the night she was killed.

Gallagher was murdered in a garage on Weldon Avenue where Sutherland lived between Sept. 20 and Sept. 21, 2020.

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According to the agreed statement of facts, her body was placed in the back of a truck and then thrown off the St. Louis Bridge into the South Saskatchewan River.

Sutherland is facing charges such as unlawful confinement, offering an indignity to human remains, and manslaughter in connection with Gallagher’s death. He was originally charged with first degree murder.

Cheyann Crystal Peeteetuce pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was handed a seven-year sentence for her part in Gallagher’s death earlier this year.

On Wednesday, she took the stand at Saskatoon’s Court of Kings Bench as a Crown witness. When asked about what happened to Gallagher that night she repeatedly said, “I don’t remember.”

Peeteetuce said Gallagher was a Facebook friend that she had only met once at the Weldon Avenue garage where she died and that where several people were there that night.

“We were chilling, getting high and drinking,” she said.

Peeteetuce testified that she did not talk to Gallagher at the garage, nor did she have contact with Gallagher prior to visiting the garage.

However, according to the agreed statement of facts, Peeteetuce called Gallagher at 4:30 a.m. on Sept. 20 to buy drugs.

In her testimony, Peeteetuce said Sutherland was at the garage that night, but she was unable to identify him in the courtroom when she was asked to do while she was on the stand.

When Crown Prosecutor William Burge asked her why she pleaded guilty to manslaughter and about the events surrounding Gallagher’s death, Peeteetuce said she couldn’t remember because she was high and drunk that night.

Her testimony led the trial into a voir dire — a trial within a trial — for most of Wednesday morning.

In the afternoon, Burge played video footage from June 15, 2022 of an interview Peeteetuce had with lead investigator of the case, Anthony Boensch.

In the video, Peeteetuce told Boensch that Gallagher was tied to a chair in the garage and beaten by three people, including Sutherland. She had also said there was “negative energy” at the party and said she never hurt Gallagher.

When asked about her video interview with police, Peeteetuce said she wasn’t telling the truth.

The trial for Sutherland is set for two weeks. He is one of nine people who were arrested in connection to Gallagher’s death.