Could Derick Hillier be involved?

The jury has already heard testimony about a strange phone call Hillier-Penney had with Derick Hillier a few months before her disappearance. During the call, he’s said to have told her he was Jesus Christ and was coming to take her to a party. The people he said he was bringing with him were all dead.

Derick Hillier had been in St. Anthony in the weeks leading up to Hillier-Penney’s disappearance on Nov. 30, 2016, but both his mother and father say he was gone long before Hillier-Penney — who was last seen alive by one of her sisters at 8 p.m. that night — disappeared.

While being questioned by defence lawyer Mark Gruchy, Norma Hillier testified she had left her home in Jackson’s Arm on Nov. 30, 2016, and travelled to Gander, where she and her husband visited a relative in the hospital before continuing on to Sandy Cove, near Eastport.

Norma Hillier said her son called her on Nov. 28, 2016, and told her he was going back to St. John’s on Nov. 29, 2016.

She told him she had to go to Gander on Nov. 30, 2016, and encouraged him to wait to leave St. Anthony so they could meet there.

She said they met up in the Irving parking lot around 3 p.m. that day, picked up some lunch from Tim Hortons and ate in her vehicle. The weather was getting bad, she said, and Derick left less than an hour later to continue his trip to St. John’s.

Asked by Gruchy if they had a conversation about Hillier-Penney disappearing, she said no, because she didn’t know about it until the next day.

When did Derick Hillier leave St. Anthony?

The jury was then excused as the trial entered a voir dire concerning Norma Hillier’s evidence.

When the jury returned, Gruchy asked her if she remembered giving a statement to police in February 2017 and suggested that she believed that she met her son in Gander on Nov. 30, 2016.

Gruchy said that according to her statement from 2017, by the time she met with Derick Hillier, it was already known that Hillier-Penney was missing and that they had talked about it, and that she had also spoken with two people who confirmed it, according to details she told police in her statement.

Gruchy suggested they’d instead had the conversation on Dec. 1, 2016 — the day that Hillier-Penney was reported missing.

“No, sir,” she replied, and added, “We didn’t know until Dec. 1.”

Norma Hillier said she had made a mistake in her original statement and that her son was in St. John’s when they talked by phone about Hillier-Penney.

She said she had gotten her statement mixed up and would have corrected it if she had been able to at the time.

“How could I be talking about Jennifer when I didn’t know she was gone yet?” she said.

“I feel sorry, but I have established that I was with my son on the 30th of November. I have the proof from my bank to show I made purchases there.”

She explained that the RCMP officers helped her access the bank information.

As Gruchy starts to say that her main concern was to show that she was with her son, Norma Hillier cut him off, saying, “To show that I was with my son and I stopped him from leaving on the 29th, which I am very sorry that I did, because there’d be none of this today. That’s why I say with all my true heart, your honour and jury and everybody in the bar, I told the truth. I was with my son on the 30th of November, and that’s all I can say that’s truthful.”

‘My son was with me’

Gruchy then brought up her meeting with two people from St. Anthony at the Irving in Gander, who told her it was true that Hillier-Penney was missing on the same day she met with her son.

Norma Hillier told the court she made a mistake in her original statement, has no reason to lie, and insisted she didn’t meet those people the same day.

While she agreed it was in her statement, she continued to swear it was not what happened and said she tangles up things pretty often and is a very high-strung person.

As Gruchy started to suggest that was her number one goal, Norma Hillier jumped in, saying, “My number one goal was to establish that my son was with me and he was.”

Gruchy asked why she was so concerned with establishing that her son was with her.

“Because they asked me. Because he was being brought up as being an accessory to this disappearance,” she said.

“So, you knew that your son was being looked at as involved in this disappearance and your number one goal was to make it clear to the police, ‘Oh no, no, I was with him on the 30th,’ correct?” asked Gruchy.

She replied, “Exactly.”

As Gruchy pushed her on the topic, she again said she’s sorry and made a mistake.

Gruchy asks her if the conversations with him ever occurred.

Norma Hillier answered that they did not have that conversation at the Irving and that she talked with him on the phone.

Gruchy also asked her if the rumours she heard about Derick Hillier having Jennifer Hillier-Penney in his car affected her statement.

“No, because this never came in my mind,” she said. “Why was I going to get called to come to this trial or whatever if my son was with me? My son was with me. I can’t say anything else. I’m not lying, and that’s the only day I saw him. I made a mistake. I’m human. I made a mistake. I’m sorry, but there’s nothing else I can say.”

Gruchy suggested that she was trying to explain why her statement was wrong after nine years had passed.

“I remember being with my son that day, so what do I have to remember anything else for, sir? The only thing — and I’ll say it again — the only thing that was important to me is that I was with my son so they couldn’t accuse him,” she said, her voice sounding angry with her final words.

As Gruchy continued with more questions, Norma Hillier turned her body to look at Penney.

Patten began his questions by reviewing the details of the day with her, asking if she was confident she met her son on Nov. 30, 2016, in Gander.

“A hundred per cent sure, sir,” she replied.

She repeated that she heard about Hillier-Penney’s disappearance the next day and could only have spoken with her son about it on the phone.

Patten suggested that two and a half months later, when she gave her statement, she was reflecting back and got confused.

“My God, anybody would, yes, sir,” she answers.

Patten went on to say there was no way she could have been talking about Hillier-Penney being missing at 3 p.m. on the 30th because she wasn’t missing then.

Norma Hillier agreed, and said the officer who took her statement told her she wouldn’t have to hear about this again.

“Now you can imagine my surprise when I got a call that Derick’s name came up about this trial,” she said, adding that it shocked her.

Dad watched Derick Hillier drive out of town

The defence also called Graham Hillier, Derick Hillier’s father, as its fourth witness.

He said his son was home for two or three weeks and stayed at his home. He also provided his son with the Ford Escape SUV that he drove back to St. John’s.

He said Derick Hillier left St. Anthony early in the morning, around 6 or 6:30 a.m., on Nov. 30, 2016.

Gruchy asked if he always knew that date.

“Well, I know that date because I know that Derick left in the morning and Jennifer went missing in the evening,” said Graham Hillier.

Gruchy repeated the question, and Graham Hillier replied that he’s always known that date.

Gruchy asked him if he ever talked with anyone about when his son left the town, and Graham Hillier replied, “No.”

Gruchy asked if there was a point when he ever asked anyone whether the time he left was correct.

Graham Hillier responded that he might have asked his wife, Derick Hillier’s stepmother.

Gruchy asked him why he’d ask her if he knew the time was correct.

Graham Hillier said she was there with him when he gave a statement to police.

He said he doesn’t know why he would have asked her, and said he can’t say for sure if he even asked her that.

To try to refresh his memory, Gruchy showed Graham Hillier his statement and asked if he had any recollection of asking his wife, Zonya Hillier, about the time Derick Hillier left.

“No, I never had to ask Zonya, I know the time,” Graham Hillier said.

Asked the same thing again, he replied that to his knowledge he did not ask her.

With that, Gruchy requested a second voir dire, and the jury was excused.

Upon resumption of the trial in the afternoon, Gruchy went through Graham Hillier’s statement, focusing on him not knowing the date that his son left town.

“I had no reason to have the date marked down,” Graham Hillier said.

Gruchy again pressed Graham Hillier on why he spoke to his wife while giving his statement.

He responded with it’s usual to talk back and forth and just a figure of speech and said that he didn’t know the date but is 100 per cent sure of the day, reiterating that his son left in the morning, and Hillier-Penney went missing that night.

He said it was his wife who told him about Hillier-Penney’s disappearance the next day.

Gruchy asked if Graham Hillier saw his son leave town.

Graham Hillier said they went to his garage, torqued the tires on the SUV and said he saw him leave town.

Gruchy asks again for the jury to be excused to raise another issue in a voir dire.

When the jury returned, Gruchy asked Graham Hillier if he was certain he saw his son leave town, pointing out that in his statement, he said he couldn’t say 100 per cent.

“I’m 100 per cent sure now,” Graham Hillier responded.

He said his garage was located on the highway and said he saw his son pull out and drive away from town.

Graham Hillier had said that the police had been to his door before taking his statement, so a suggestion they had shown up out of the blue was not correct, suggested Gruchy.

“I figured they were coming someday,” said Graham Hillier.

The Crown had no questions for Graham Hillier.

At the conclusion of his testimony, Khaladkar gave the jury some mid-trial instructions about the evidence they heard on Tuesday, May 5. The jury will have a written copy of those, and other instructions he’s provided, when they deliberate.

The trial will resume on Wednesday, May 6.