Defence grills former accused granted immunity in 2020 slaying

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This article was published 07/02/2025 (237 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Lawyers for the man who’s on trial for allegedly murdering Bud Paul on a deserted country road, tried Thursday to shift the blame to his one-time co-accused.

Janine Atkinson, 40, has been granted immunity from prosecution in return for her testimony against Aaron Mousseau Abigosis, who is charged with first-degree murder in Paul’s August 2020 killing.

Paul’s decomposed remains were found by a trapper on Aug. 11, just off a dead-end road on the northern fringe of Roseau River First Nation, Atkinson’s home reserve.

Atkinson testified last week that Abigosis severely assaulted Paul during a weekend road trip that took them to Neepawa, Dauphin and Pine Creek First Nation. Two days later, with Abigosis at the wheel of Paul’s car, they drove to Roseau River and pulled over at a dead-end road, where Atkinson said Abigosis asked her to help drag Paul into the bush to murder him.

Atkinson said she refused to help Abigosis, who bound Paul with a rope before dragging him to the bush. She said Abigosis was carrying a machete when he returned to the car and changed his clothes.

During cross-examination Thursday, defence lawyer Tara Walker alleged it was Atkinson who killed Paul, arguing she would have needed the rope to drag him to the bush.

Walker said Atkinson would have known which roads to take to the reserve to avoid detection by security officers who were enforcing pandemic restrictions at the time, as well as the best place to hide a body.

“You knew where people wouldn’t be actively going past for a few days,” Walker said. “You knew that road was a dead end and deserted.”

Atkinson denied killing Paul or directing Abigosis to the dead-end road.

Police arrested Atkinson for murder on Dec. 20, 2020, then released her without charge.

“But you knew you were in trouble at that point… and you were worried that they were coming to get you, that they had information about what your role was that night,” Walker said.

Atkinson signed an immunity agreement in return for her testimony on May 30, 2022.

“You watched (the news) and you worried for two years you were going to get arrested,” Walker said. “When you had an opportunity to shift the blame from yourself to someone else, you took advantage of that opportunity and you gave that immunity statement.”

Earlier in the week, during direct examination by the Crown, Atkinson admitted using Paul’s bank card one time after he was dead to withdraw approximately $400.

But according to an agreed statement of facts provided to jurors Thursday, Atkinson made three additional withdrawals, which were captured on ATM security video before and after Paul’s death, that totalled $1,140.

Confronted with the video evidence, Atkinson claimed to have no memory of making the withdrawals, saying she was severely intoxicated by drugs and alcohol at the time.

The trial resumes Monday.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca