Victim in McAdam vigilante case testifies about alleged assault at gunpoint

The victim of an assault that's been framed as a case of vigilante justice in McAdam, in southwest New Brunswick, testified about how he was forced at gunpoint to strip naked before ultimately fleeing for fear of his life.

Blake Scott took to the witness box Thursday to testify in the Crown's case against Dwain Gardner, who's on trial on charges of unlawfully confining, assaulting and pointing a firearm at Scott on June 4, 2022.

Gardner is also accused of possessing a sawed-off shotgun for the purpose of committing an offence.

"Too many emotions to describe," said Scott, when asked under questioning how he felt in the moments after the incident.

"Sad, humiliated, f--king scared."

But on cross-examination, defence lawyer Nathan Gorham painted Scott's testimony as lies to divert attention from his own troubles with the law.

"What you've done here is, you've made up lies for the jury because you wanted to get yourself out of hot water you thought you were going to be in for what happened back then," Gorham said.

Invited to Gardner's garage

Scott testified as a Crown witness on the first day of Gardner's jury trial and described the events leading up to the alleged assault on the night of the incident.

Scott said he was familiar with Gardner because they shared a familial connection — Scott's sister was formerly married to Gardner's brother.

Scott said that evening he'd texted about meeting at Gardner's home to talk about a disagreement Gardner and Billy McGillicuddy had with a friend of his.

Blake Scott testified he was invited to the home of Dwain Gardner on June 4, 2022, so that they could talk about an issue Gardner had with a friend of Scott's. He alleged he walked into the garage, where Gardner had a sawed-off shotgun. (Court of King's Bench)

Billy McGillicuddy was co-accused of assault with a weapon and unlawful confinement of Scott from the same incident and later pleaded guilty to the charges.

Scott said he showed up to Gardner's home at around 10 p.m. and when he walked into the garage, Gardner was standing next to a bench, where a sawed-off shotgun was propped against the wall within his reach.

Scott said Gardner started calling him a "thieving meth-head," and picked up the shotgun, showing him it was loaded before pointing it at him.

He said McGillicuddy showed up shortly after and began accusing him of approaching his 10-year-old daughter near a pedestrian underpass in McAdam — an accusation Scott said was untrue.

Scott, 38, said McGillicuddy then lunged at him and punched him in the head, followed by a scuffle between the two.

Scott said at one point he was able to grab the shotgun from Gardner and threw it into a corner in the garage. At that point, he said both McGillicuddy and Gardner wrestled him to the ground, followed by McGillicuddy retrieving the shotgun.

Scott said McGillicuddy then instructed Gardner to bring his pickup truck closer to the garage and told Scott to strip naked, which he did.

Scott said McGillicuddy then ordered him to get into his truck because he was going to take him "to the woods."

While walking to the truck, Scott said he took the chance to run away, ultimately barging into the home of a family friend who lived nearby. Brent Mowatt was home and called 911 and later drove Scott home.

"I don't want to think about it," said Scott, when asked what McGillicuddy planned on doing to him.

"They could have done anything. Left me there for dead."

Defence digs into criminal past

Following the Crown's direct questioning, Gardner's defence lawyer didn't waste time getting into Scott's criminal record.

The jury earlier heard Scott had been convicted of drug charges, theft, break and enter, breach of probation and fraud in the lead-up to the incident in question.

Gorham then dug into Scott's more recent conviction of sexual assault, asking Scott pointed questions about what he did and later accusing him of making up the accusations against Gardner and McGillicuddy.

"You made up lies to the police back on June 5," Gorham said.

"You made these lies against Dwain Gardner and against Billy McGillicuddy because you thought you were going to be in hot water for everything you had done to essentially terrorize the town of McAdam up to that point in time."

Scott said the accusations by Gorham were "wrong."

Physical evidence

Aside from Scott's testimony, jurors on Thursday also heard from RCMP Sgt. Chris Kean about physical evidence photographed at Gardner's garage after the incident.

Photos taken by police after the alleged assault show the clothes that Blake Scott says he was forced to take off while in the garage of Dwain Gardner. (Court of King's Bench)

These included the clothes Scott said he was forced to strip out of, which were found in a garbage bin in the garage.

A cellphone believed to have belonged to Scott and an unspent shotgun shell, matching the calibre of the shotgun Scott said was pointed at him, were also found.

Missing from the evidence, however, was the shotgun itself, which Crown prosecutor Geoffrey Hutchin told jurors the police were never able to find.

The Crown is expected to take three days to make its case before the defence gets a chance to call witnesses.

Gorham said on Wednesday that Gardner plans to testify in his own defence.