Key Witness Grilled During Murder Trial Cross-Examination

A key witness in the homicide of a Brooks man in 2023 faced an intense cross-examination during the third day of a second-degree murder trial at Medicine Hat Court of King’s Bench.

Abune Getahun, 45, is facing allegations of second-degree murder in connection with the death of Tesfahiwot Haile, 41, in July 2023.

Crown witness Jo-ann Power took the stand during a brief direct examination, telling the jury she was in Getahun’s apartment located above the Blue Nile Shisha Bar at the time Haile came to the man’s home.

“You could hear them fighting or something,” Power testified happened when Getahun and Haile met at the threshold  of the apartment.

Power testified to being in the living room of the apartment and had no line of sight to the interaction but recognized Haile’s voice as she had known the man.

She told the court Getahun returned inside the apartment where the accused stated, “I terminated him.”

Power than stated the accused went on to say, “where’s the bat? Get the bat I need to finish him.”

But that testimony soon came into question under cross-examination by defence lawyer Kirsten Lancee with Power changing her story about the “terminated” comment to something that was referenced hours later when Getahun was watching a Youtube video.

Under cross-examination, Power testified to believing she hadn’t even spoken to Getahun again after leaving the apartment during the altercation just before 5 pm on July 23. 

But that testimony was contradicted by Power herself in a July 26, 2023 audio recording of her police statement which was played for the court in which she expressed surprise to the Mounties to seeing Getahun later on the evening of July 23.

Lancee’s cross-examination uncovered numerous other inconsistencies in what Power told police during two interviews on the days following the July 23, 2023 homicide, her preliminary hearing evidence given in January 2025 and testimony during trial on Wednesday.

Even the manner in which Haile came to Getahun’s door was called into question following Power testifying under cross-examination that, “it wasn’t banging. It was knocking.”

The audio of Power’s police statement taken in the days following the homicide was played back where she described that Haile, “was banging on the door screaming.”

One consistency in Power’s police statements and testimony presented at trial was the woman’s position that she actually never saw Haile.

She testified she told Haile and Getahun, “why can’t you just stop it,” when the two men were involved in a heated exchange in their native Amharic language.

Power told the court the situation, “started to get a bit too much for me. . .When they fight, they’re crazy.”

But even as she left the apartment with her bag and bicycle, Power told the court she never actually saw Haile - not in the apartment, not during the verbal exchange with Getahun, not in the hallway when leaving with her bicycle in tow and not while she knocked on a neighbour’s door to try to get help in dealing with the developing situation.

“I think you’re lying about what you heard,” Lancee put to Power at one point.

“I’m not telling lies. . .We lost a life here and it wasn’t cool,” responded Power.

The interactions between Lancee and Power during cross-examination saw the witness visibly frustrated at times when questioned about a number of inconsistencies.

“She’s pointing fingers at me when I didn’t do anything,” said Power with her face becoming red following Lancee highlighting one of a number of contradictory statements.

Justice Michele Hollins at times cautioned Power to simply answer the questions during points in the cross-examination when the testimony was becoming combative.

During the end of approximately three hours of cross-examination, an increasingly frustrated Power told the court, “it’s hard for someone like me to go through something like this,” and had referenced several times the incident had been traumatic.

In addition to Power testifying to the incidents inside the apartment, she told the court she’d gone to a nearby garage to get help with the situation in the minutes leading up to a 911 call for an ambulance due to her phone not working.

It was at that same garage, Advanced Automotive, where she testified to seeing Getahun hours later watching the Youtube video which referenced termination,  conceding she never actually heard that statement in the apartment.

The automotive garage was also central to the brief testimony from RCMP Sgt. William Pope who told the court that on the grounds of the business on July 28 he, “located a baseball bat.”

The Mountie held up the aluminum Easton bat and testified it was sent for forensic analysis but did not have any DNA connected to the victim.

The court heard there was one unidentified profile found on the bat.

The trial continues today at Medicine Hat Court of King’s Bench.