Murder trial for 2 shooting deaths begins

A woman's terror andher final poignant moments with her dying husband were recounted Monday as the murder trial of Daniel Richard Wolfe began in Regina.

Daniel Richard Wolfe, 33, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the 2007 deaths of Marvin Arnault, 51, and Michael Itittakoose, 24.

The two were shot in a home in the town of Fort Qu'Appelle. Wolfe, whose family lives in Manitoba, is also on trial for three counts of attempted murder after three others who had been inside the house were injured.

He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Testifying on the first day of the trial Monday was Arnault's widow, Christina Cook, 63, who told the court how on Sept. 20, 2007, two men, their faces covered in bandanas, kicked the front door of her house open and started shooting.

She saw one gun and counted at least 20 shots.

Outside the courthouse, she said it felt like forever, but it happened so fast.

"You don't have time to be scared," she said.

Husband tells wife to take care of their kids

Cook remembered seeing blood on Itittakoose and when she went for a cellphone to call an ambulance, she heard one of the invaders yell, "'Shoot the old lady, she's calling the cops,'" she said.

Her husband grabbed her and covered her with his body.

Arnault said to her "'You know I love you, right, Chris. Look after the boys,'" she said.

She asked if he was hurt and he responded "'yes'" the last thing he ever said to her.

Cook said she did not know who the men were in her home that night.

When asked outside court if she wanted someone to be found guilty for the crime, she said it wasn't important.

"I've done my mourning and stuff, but I still think of the good times and I still think he's with me," she said.

Another person, who was a minor, was charged in connection with the shootings. He's being dealt with in a separate court procedure.

Suspect involved in prison break

Wolfe made headlines in 2008 for being one of five inmates who escaped from the Regina Correctional Centre on Aug. 24.

He spent several weekson the rununtil being arrestedby Winnipeg police while ridingin a car in the city's North End on Sept. 17.

Before hiding out in Winnipeg, Wolfestopped briefly to visit family members living on the Opaskwayak Cree Nation reserve near The Pas, Man.

He managed to escape being captured byRCMP there.

In an interview with CBC News from the Winnipeg Remand Center after his arrest, Wolfe said he fled the prison in part because of the way he and other inmates were being treated, saying he was never allowed access to an elder or to perform traditional ceremonies despite the large number of native inmates there.

He suggested that medical services were also lacking and that the guards often directed racist remarks at inmates.

Wolfe'strial before Queen's Bench Justice Eugene Scheibel was to continue Tuesday and isexpected to last two weeks.