By Garett Williams
Tuesday November 20, 2007

Day four of Bruce Montague’s trial on 53 weapons-related charges continued in a Kenora Superior courtroom Monday with the Crown presenting its next three witnesses.

Const. Glen Fraser, who’s testimony was cut short last week pending a decision whether literature found in a hidden room in Montague’s basement would be admitted as evidence, returned to the witness box to identify the literature, along with thousands of rounds of ammunition recovered from the room.

The literature Fraser identified included a diagram of a pen gun and a copy of The Original Poor Man’s James Bond Vol. 1, along with numerous military training manuals and firearm related books.

Defence council Doug Christie argued during cross-examination that although Fraser attached police identification tags to the firearms recovered from the hidden room-- indicating if the guns were loaded when they were discovered -- the information was relayed to him by another officer and he never actually saw them loaded himself.

Christie pressed him on a sum of money recovered from the room, which Fraser noted as $405 American and $2,105 Canadian , suggesting there was far more money than what was noted.

Fraser couldn’t recall if he observed the money upon first entering the room.

“Can you offer me any explanation why you didn’t see it,” Christie asked. “Could it be that you know not all the money was accounted for.”

“No,” Fraser replied.

Former OPP officer Keith Boomhower was next on the Crown’s list of witnesses.

He testified he has known Montague for many years, calling him a talented gunsmith who performed work on Boomhower’s own guns and gave him entry level training through the International Practical Shooting Confederation.

Through the early ‘90s to 1998 Boomhower was the OPP Dryden detachment’s firearms officer. He testified Montague had spoken to him in early ‘97 about his desire to export handguns, which were about to be classified as prohibited under the new registration, to the U.S. in order to keep possession. Boomhower admitted he had considered the same action himself, but never followed through. To export a gun at that time, a four-part carbon form was be filed with the local OPP, with one copy sent to the law enforcement where the firearm was destined to land, a copy to the applicant, the registry and one to stay in the local office where it was requested. Boomhower said nothing on the form prevented the applicant from changing their mind about exporting the weapon, adding it’s common sense to inform local law enforcement if the weapon wasn’t sent.

Next to the witness box was Ransome Capy, a Lac Seul man who testified he purchased an unregistered riffle from Montague in 2004. At the time, Capy had an acquisition/possession licence, but the firearm was never registered because he didn’t know how to go about it.

Finally, the Crown called its last witness of the day, Const. Andrew Bulmer, a forensic identification officer with the OPP in Kenora. He was called to assist in the second search of the Montague home, which focused on the hidden room in the basement. Specifically, he confirmed the guns were unloaded and safe before passing them on to Fraser, who attached identification tags.

He said the entrance to the room was difficult to detect, noting there was rubber on the back of the door to prevent it making a hollow sound. He testified he found a loaded rifle with a silencer or suppressor attached and a handgun with a live round in the chamber. “What I mean is, if you were to pull the trigger, it would fire immediately,” he said.

Bulmer will return Tuesday for cross-examination.

Assistant Crown attorney Peter Keen, with assistance from Robert Young, is leading the prosecution.

Montague is facing numerous firearms related charges, including the unauthorized possession and careless storage of non-restricted firearms, explosives and restricted firearms. His wife, Donna, is facing three charges -- the unauthorized possession of a firearm and two counts of careless storage of a firearm.

Link: http://www.kenoradailyminerandnews.com/...