Travis Vader trial: Crown wants to question sister as hostile witness

A prosecutor wants court permission to question Travis Vader's sister as a hostile witness, after the young womantook the stand Thursday and tried to distance herself from previous statements she has made to the RCMP.

Bobbi-Jo Vader, 40, was grilled about her brother's drug use and whether she saw guns wrapped in blankets in the back of his truck on July 4, 2010.

Her brother is accused of killing Lyle and Marie McCann on July 3. Court has already heard that Travis Vader showed up late the next night at the Edmonton rooming house where his sister lived, driving a stolen truck that was later set on fire.

"He looked tired, sick," she testified. "Like he needed some sleep and food."

On the witness stand, she rejected the suggestion that her brother was high on methamphetamineat the time.

"He didn't look like he was on anything," she said. "He just looked tired. He wanted to go to bed."

The sister was interviewed by RCMP a number of times in July and August 2010. Back then she told officers, "When I look into his eyes, he's not there. He's into meth."

But on the witness stand, she testified she couldn't understand why she might have made that statement, but said she may have made an assumption based on rumours other people were spreading at the time.

"I don't know why I said it, because I didn't know for sure," Bobbi-Jo Vader testified. "I just assumed it was meth, and I shouldn't have done that. I'd honestly never seen him do meth. I just heard through other people."

Bobbi-Jo admitted her own thinking wasn't clear back then.

"At that time in my life," she testified, "I was a little confused about some things. I don't know if you're going to believe this or not, but I was messed up on drugs at the time."

She said meth was not the drug she used, but didn't specify what her drug of choice was.

Denies seeing guns wrapped in blankets

More important than her brother's potential drug use may be the question of whether Vader's sister saw guns wrapped in blankets in the back of the stolen truck he was driving.

Bobbi-Jo Vader said she retrieved her brother's belongings from the truck and shared a detailed memory about some of the contents.

"There was two duffel bags in the back, a bottle of Tide and a backpack in the front and some groceries. I think there was some cookies and some orange juice and maybe some ginger ale."

She also remembered seeing a folded blanket in the back seat of the truck.

But her memory faltered when Crown prosecutor Ashley Finlayson asked, "Did Travis ever mention there were guns in the truck?"

"I thought he did, but I can't be clear on that," the witness said. "I just can't give you an honest answer on that. So I'm not going to lie."

During police interviews in 2010, she told RCMP her brother had warned her to be careful because there were guns in the truck.

On Thursday she testified, "It seems I said it twice, so maybe he did tell me. I'm not really sure. I can't give you an honest answer here."

CBC reported late last year that RCMPhadtargeted Bobbi-Jo Vader in a Mr. Big-like sting in November 2011. According to court documents, it appears she socialized with undercover officers and performed some "work" for them.

A description of one scenario details what Bobbi-Jo told an undercover operative at the time.

"She said she believed that Travis was involved in the murders and she saw guns wrapped up in blankets that could have come from the McCanns' motor home," according to court documents.

The prosecutor asked Justice Denny Thomas to take a look at the inconsistencies between Bobbi-Jo Vader's police statements and her sworn testimony. The judge will decide Friday morning if the sister can be questioned as a hostile witness.

Meanwhile, Travis Vader's bail review is scheduled for Friday at 1 p.m. after he was late arriving for his trial for the fourth time earlier this week.

janice.johnston@cbc.ca