Crown grills man on trial for killing Calgary woman and her daughter

CALGARY — A prosecutor is grilling a man who has denied killing a Calgary woman and her young daughter in 2016.

Edward Downey, who is 48, is on trial for first-degree murder in the deaths of Sara Baillie and five-year-old Taliyah Marsman.

Crown prosecutor Carla MacPhail read out in court several text exchanges in the weeks leading up to their deaths that suggested Downey was stressed about money.

Some were over a repossessed Mercedes while others were about owing a nephew about $1,000 and being unable to lend his sister $20 for gas.

Other messages suggested Downey was frustrated with the influence Baillie was having on his then-girlfriend, who court has heard was Baillie’s best friend.

The Crown’s theory is that Downey blamed Baillie for his relationship ending and for his former girlfriend declining to work as an escort.

In one text message to his ex-girlfriend, he referred to Baillie as a “disrespectful pot and horndog.” MacPhail asked Downey whether that was another way of calling her a slut.

Downey replied he meant Baillie was a “bad girl” generally.

“It depends on the conversation,” he told court Thursday. “It could mean a lot of different things.”

Downey testified Wednesday that he was in Baillie’s basement apartment the same day she was found dead and her daughter disappeared.

He told court he was there with two other people for a drug deal and one of the other men was having an argument with Baillie in her bedroom.

Downey said that person, identified only as Terrance, asked for tape. Downey said he ripped off a piece and didn’t think much of the request.

The Crown presented evidence that two of Downey’s partial fingerprints were found on duct tape that had been wrapped around Baillie’s face and neck.

Baillie was found dead inside a laundry hamper in her daughter’s closet on July 11, 2016.

Taliyah’s remains were found in some bushes in a rural area east of the city three days later.

Both died by asphyxiation, the trial has heard.

Lauren Krugel, The Canadian Press

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