Friend recalls disturbing phone call from accused

A friend of a man on trial for first-degree murdersays he got a shocking phone call from the accusedaround the same time a 13-year-old girlwas killed.

Michael Briscoe, 36, and Joseph Laboucan, 21, are charged withthe kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault and first-degree murder of Nina Courtepatte.

Jarvis Nelson testified Tuesday that he was at home in Fort St. John when Laboucan, whoalso lived in the northern B.C. city but was visiting Edmonton,first calledNelson's female roommate.

"She was all freaked out,"Nelson latersaid outside court.Hesaid he then called Laboucan himself.

"He told me that he had been to a party there, and there was a bunch of guys there and they had hit this girl over the head with a wrench."

Nelsonsaid he knew Laboucan from seeing him at parties around Fort St. John. The pair onlytalked about "cars, women and beer," what he testified was "normal stuff in Fort St. John."

Golf course owner found body

Also testifying Tuesday was Mike Kachuk, who owns the Edmonton Springs Golf Course. He said he was checking the fairways when he found the girl in April 2005.

Hetold court he first spotted what he thought was a bundled-up tarp on the ground, but said he realized it was a body when hegot closer.

Kachuk recalledrushing back to the clubhouse to call police, butbeing so disturbed he couldn't remember the address of the golf course and had to pass the phone to his daughter.

5people charged in girl's death

Briscoe and Laboucan are being tried before a judge alone in Alberta's Court of Queen's Bench. The trial is expected to last a month.

Theyare among five people charged with the girl's murder, but unlike the other three, they were adults at the time of her death.

A 19-year-old man has already pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. Two young women, ages 17 and 19, are charged with kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault and first-degree murder, but haven't yet come to trial. The trio can't be named under the provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.