Second day of Haven Dubois inquest leaves mother with more questions

Frustrations from family members ran high early on Tuesday during the second day of the inquest into Haven Dubois’ death.

Dubois was 14 years old when he died on May 20, 2015. The coroner originally ruled his death an accidental drowning with marijuana use being a contributing factor.

Marajauna use was cut from the report after Haven’s mother Richelle had a meeting with Regina police and the coroner. Richelle testified on the first day of the inquest that she found a marking on Haven’s face after she pulled him out of a creek in east Regina.

The second day began with a testimony from Dr. Amer Khalifa, a pathologist who said he has conducted over 600 coroner autopsies.

Khalifa said no markings or scrapes were found on Dubois’ face during the autopsy. In a moment of frustration, Richelle interrupted Khalifa’s testimony and said that he was wrong, before rushing out of the room.

“I have more questions after hearing what the pathologist had to say,” Richelle said after the day had concluded. “It leaves me with more questions than answers.”

Chief Coroner Brent Gough told the jury to disregard Richelle’s comment.

Khalifa told the jury the only scrapes Haven had on his body were on his knees. But Haven’s body had markings on his arms where IVs had been inserted, and impressions on the chest from where he had been given CPR, he noted.

Mark Ebert, a lawyer representing the Dubois family, questioned Khalifa on why the first autopsy report contained mistakes. Haven’s name was spelled wrong in the report, and his age was incorrect as well.

The lawyers representing the Dubois family said it has been an emotional day for Richelle Dubois. (Gillian Massie/980 CJME)

Khalifa acknowledged things like names changes are considered “significant,” but didn’t elaborate on how the changes were made.

Richelle said the mistakes in the report proved that the proper time and care wasn’t taken during her son’s autopsy.

Samples of Haven’s blood, urine, and liver were sent to a forensic toxicologist for testing. Khalifa said low levels of marijuana was found in Haven’s system in the toxicologist report.

While cannabis was detected, Khalifa said there was no way to determine exactly how impaired Haven was at the time of his death.

“The issue with marijuana is the effects are variable,” Khalifa said.

Dr. Graham Jones, a forensic toxicologist who prepared the report, agreed there was no way to determine how impaired Haven was.

Jones found 2.4 micrograms of THC per lire in Haven’s blood samples. While everyone is effected by cannabis differently, Jones said those levels should suggest a “person should not experience any significant effects.”

A missing person

Constable Renee Venne said she knew Haven as a shy kid.

Venne was working as a school resource officer at F.W. Johnson Collegiate when she was informed by the school’s vice principle that Haven had gone missing on May 20, 2015.

Gabriel Thompson, one of Haven’s friends, had returned Haven’s shoes, jacket, and T-shirt he found on a bench near the creek to one of Haven’s family members at their house earlier that morning.

Venne filed a missing person’s report after the school’s administration confirmed he was not on a field trip.

She met with Richelle at the school and at Haven’s home over the next few hours. She said she was trying to ping Haven’s phone when she learned that Haven had died.

Venne conducted multiple interviews with Haven’s friends after his death. A few days after Haven’s death, Thompson told Venne he returned to the bench near where Haven died and found his phone.

Thompson returned the phone to Venne with the SIM card removed from it. Venne told the jury she did not know why Thompson returned the card separately from the phone, nor did she ask why.

Thompson was on the witness list for the inquest, but has not been located despite a summons, according to lawyers Rheana Worme and Mark Ebert.

Richelle Dubois said she felt like she had more questions than answers at the end of the second day of the inquest. (Gillian Massie/980 CJME)

Conflicting testimony

Taybin and Avery Buckle are brothers who said they smoked marijuana with Haven on the day that he died.

Both told the jury they didn’t know that they were supposed to be on a field trip to White City with their class during the day.

The kids drove away from school in their friend Benjamin Murkin’s car to smoke cannabis. Haven, Murkin, Taybin, Avery, and Thompson were all in the car.

Benjamin Murkin was also on the witness list, but like Thompson, he was not located despite a summons.

“I’m frustrated, because I feel like some key players aren’t at the table,” Richelle said. “There should have been more people called to witness.”

Taybin said that they drove around the corner to smoke behind a Giant Tiger. Avery said they went further north to the old Dewdney road to be away from anyone who passed by.

Taybin said he’d smoked cannabis several times before with Haven, but this time after smoking Haven “flipped out.” He said Haven was having symptoms similar to a panic attack, and tried to crawl out the window of the vehicle.

Avery said Haven did not act abnormally during the same period of time.

Both said everyone went their separate ways once they got back to school. That was the last time that either of them saw Haven before they saw reports that he was dead on the news.

The inquest is set to resume at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday.