Richard Oland's missing cell was 'likely' near Rothesay tower

A cellphone network expert maintains it's "morelikely"Richard Oland's missing iPhone 4 was near theRothesay cell tower that transmitted the last message his phone received than any other tower.

Joseph Sadounwas cross-examinedThursday by Dennis Oland's defence lawyer Alan Gold about his previous statement to the Crown.

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Sadoun had said the chances of a cellphonein uptown Saint John communicating with a cell tower in Rothesay, which is about a 20-minute drive awaywere "minimal," because there are at least four closer towers that would provide stronger signals.

The court has heard the last communication received by Richard Oland'scellphone was a text message from his mistress Diana Sedlacekon July 6, 2011, at 6:44 p.m., which pinged off the tower in Rothesay.

The location of the Oland'sphone and the timing of the call are key factors in the case. The phone was the only item that went missing from the prominent businessman'sSaint John office, where his body was discovered on the morning of July 7, 2011.

Dennis Oland, 47, who was the last known person to see his father alive during a meeting at his office the night before, told police he left around 6:30 p.m. and drove home to Rothesay, stopping briefly at Renforth Wharf enroute to see if his children were there swimming.

The wharf is located near the Rothesay tower his father's cellphone pinged off.

Olandhas pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and is standing trial before a judge and jury in the Court of Queen's Bench in Saint John.

Gold asked whether the Rothesay tower would be strong enough to send a signal 25 kilometres, more than enough to reach Richard Oland'soffice on Canterbury Street.

Sadounsaid it was possible, if it was flat terrain.

Gold also submitted the boundaries of cell towers are not rigid.The strength of a signal "waxes and wanes"every second and so-called neighbour towers may take over during peak periods when there is a heavy volume of calls or during technical problems, he said.

So a phone that connected with the Rothesay tower could be located in the primary coverage area of that tower, which is depicted in pink in a colour-codedmap created bySadoun, or in any other coloured area representing the so-called neighbour towers, argued Gold.

Sadoun, who helps design cellphone networks, agreed the coverage of towers overlap and said he didn't know what the "digital electronic neighbour list" of the Rothesay tower would have been on July 6, 2011.

But hereiterated that the best tower to transmit the victim's final message would have been the Rothesay one.

Cellphones usually connect with whichever tower can provide the best signal, which as a general rule, is the closest one, according toSadoun,the director of engineering for the wireless division of Montreal-based Yves R.Hameland Associates.

Gold also pointed out that cell tower prediction models are based on a cellphone being at a height of 1.5 metres, the equivalent of a person standing at street level holding a phone.

If Oland'scellphone was in hisoffice, whichwas located on the second-storey of 52 Canterbury St., than the basic assumption of 1.5 metres wouldn't apply, suggestedGold.

Sadoun agreed.

Test calls challenged

Gold noted the software-generatedpredictions Sadounprovided regarding which towers would respondtotests calls conducted by lead investigatorConst. Stephen Davidson were wrong in some cases.

For example, Sadoun's analysis showedthe 15 calls made from Renforth Wharf would connect with the Rothesay tower. But they all used a tower on Mount Champlain, near Welsford, instead.

Three of the 41 calls made from the uptown Saint John area also failed to connect with the predicted tower, the courtroom heard.

But none of the 41went to the tower in Rothesay, according to Sadoun's 21-page report.

And none of the incorrect predictions involved a signal connecting to a phone after bypassing one or two other towers, the report shows.

Gold also criticized the testcalls themselves, suggesting the officer should have conducted them during the summer, rather than winter months, to best replicate the conditions of the final calls and texts to Oland's cell.

Sadoun agreed that would have been a good idea.

He also agreed it would have been prudent to have the phone receiving the officer's test calls in Oland'soffice.

He did not agree, however, that Davidson should have sent texts from the Darlings Islandhome of Oland's mistress.

He said it doesn't really matter where the sender of a text is located in relation to what tower is accessed by the receiver.

And as to whether a cell connects differently with calls than it does with texts, Sadoun said, "Not particularly, no."

Richard Oland, 69,suffered 45 sharp and blunt force injuries to his head, neck and hands. No weapon was ever found.

Agreed statements of fact time-savers

The Crown and defence entered three agreed statements of fact into evidence on Thursday, including one regarding the cellphonerecords for Dennis Oland.

Telus Communications was served with a production order by Saint John police on July 15, 2011, to provide the call detail records (CDR) for Oland's Blackberry on July 6-7, 2011, according to the statement by Telus security investigatorDon Calpito.

The records include the date and time a callwas madeor received, the calling and called number, the duration of thecall, which calls went to voice mail, as well asoutgoing and incoming text messages.

The second agreed statement of fact related to Kirk Sweezey, who was the morgue attendant during Richard Oland's autopsy on July 8, 2011.

Sweezey collected a number of bodily samples under the direction and supervision of the pathologist, including vitreous fluid from the eyes, blood and urine.

There is also an agreed statement of fact about police obtaining a cast-off DNA sample from Richard Oland's brother, Derek Oland, who is the executive chairman of Moosehead Breweries Limited.

It describes how Saint John Police Force constables Jeremy Edwards and Craig Ryan, and Kennebecasis Regional Police Force Const. Mitch Mercer followed Derek Oland on April 5, 2015 from the Saint John Law Courts building to Bourbon Quarter Restaurant on Prince William Street.

The officers watched as Oland ate withhis nephewDennis Oland, Dennis Oland's wife, Lisa Andrik-Oland and another unidentified female, thenseized a glass and fork he had been using once they left.

Derek Olandhas told CBC News he was never asked by police to provide a DNA sample, but would have done so willingly.

The court has not heard why police wanted the sample.

The three agreed statements of fact means the five witnesses involved no longer need to testify.

As a result, the trial won't have to sit on Friday, as scheduled, Justice John Walsh told the jurors.

The trial will resume on Monday at 9:30 a.m., said Walsh, reminding them to avoid any related media coverage.