The trial of the man accused of four murders in Fredericton two years ago has been told Matthew Raymond spent much of the year before the shootings trying to identify demons.
Raymond is charged with four counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Donnie Robichaud, Bobbie Lee Wright and police constables Robb Costello and Sara Burns in the parking lot of an apartment complex on Aug. 10, 2018.
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The defence has acknowledged Raymond killed the victims but says he should be found not criminally responsible because of a mental disorder.
The defence is continuing today with the cross-examination of RCMP Cpl. Aaron Gallagher, a computer forensics expert.
The jury has been shown screen shots of conversations between Raymond and Rob Lee – the host of a conspiracy theory YouTube channel that includes videos that talk about spotting serpents and demons.
Defence lawyer Nathan Gorham said the conversations extended from the fall of 2017 to the summer of 2018.
He said it appears Lee asked Raymond to identify demons on his website.
“I’m aware that serpents, shills and fake Christians are on my channel,” Lee wrote.
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“When I know them, they need to be checked and outed,” Raymond replied. “I am sick of being surrounded by these beings.”
Gorham said the screen shots show a falling-out between the two after Raymond sends Lee a list of names of people active on the website who Raymond believes to be demons.
Lee told Raymond he would look crazy if he accused people without proof.
On Monday, the court was shown a video from the Rob Lee Truth channel on YouTube that had been saved to Raymond’s computer.
The 30-minute video described how demons could be spotted by the way they look and the numbers and symbols they use – namely 33 1/3 and 666.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 6, 2020.