Accused killer Watcheston tells trial he was high on booze, drug

CALGARY - Christopher James Watcheston testfied on Wednesday he had been drinking heavily and consumed a hallucinogenic drug before he stalked, raped and brutally killed a mother of five.

Watcheston, on trial for first-degree murder, told defence lawyer Rebecca Snukal that by the time he boarded the same downtown C-Train as Arcelie Laoagan about 10:20 p.m. on Jan. 17, 2008, he was very intoxicated.

He said he had consumed at least a dozen beer, a half-mickey of Southern Comfort and smoked the drug salvia for just the third time in his life.

It was also the first time he had ever combined booze and the drug, he added.

"The first time I tripped out. I kinda felt paranoid," said Watcheston, 24. "I didn't like being around people. I thought they were gonna kill me."

Watcheston, who has admitted he sexually assaulted Laoagan, 41, then caused her death by caving in her skull with an unknown weapon or possibly his steel-toed boots, is trying to reduce his crime to second-degree murder.

He has admitted he stalked Laoagan after they got off the LRT at the Franklin station in the northeast, then followed her along a path near Grace Baptist Church, where she was found dead early the next morning.

The admitted killer's movements were captured on surveillance video at three downtown train stations, one of them at 8th St. when Laoagan first boarded. He was seen minutes later following the victim up the escalator and out of the Franklin station, minutes before she was attacked.

Earlier, Watcheston testified that he was born in Regina, then moved several times between Regina, Calgary and Saskatoon until he moved with his father and siblings to Brantford, Ont., where he spent most of his youth.

He said his family, including an older sister and two brothers, got along "fairly good," but that his mother was abusive to them.

"My relationship with my mother was not the nicest . . . she was abusive," Watcheston told court.

"The lady was abusive, she came in and out of our lives and we went back and forth (between father and mother)."

He also said he spent time in foster homes on a couple of occasions, once with his siblings after his father struck them.

Watcheston also said he was diagnosed early on in school as being hyperactive and was put on Ritalin. But, he added, his mother was addicted to prescription pills and would often take his pills.

He said he loved school and had a lot of friends, but when his mother was the victim of a homicide in Regina in 2001, he took it very hard and lost interest in school.

He started skipping school a lot and began drinking alcohol with friends.

Watcheston will be back on the witness stand when the trial before Court of Queen's Bench Justice Kristine Eidsvik continues this afternoon.

dslade@theherald.canwest.com