A military court at the Victoria Park garrison returned to the scene of the shooting of Canadian Forces reservist Cpl. Kevin Megeney as one of his friends took the stand yesterday.
Cpl. Steven Andrews, a member of the Princess Louise Fusiliers, a reserve unit based in Halifax, lived in the same tent on the Kandahar Airfield base in Afghanistan as Megeney, on the opposite side of a plywood partition dividing the living quarters of eight men.
Andrews was in the process of locking away his weapons and winding down for the evening by watching an episode of the TV series 24 on a laptop with other soldiers when he heard a loud popping sound.
He said it was followed seconds later by screams of, ‘Oh my God. Oh my God,’ by Cpl. Matthew Wilcox on the other side of the partitioned canvas tent.
Andrews testified he pushed the wall of the tent outward to peek around the plywood divider.
“I was immediately engulfed with gunfire smoke,” he told the military court. “When I peered in, I saw Cpl. Wilcox by his bunk standing there with a stunned look on his face. When I looked further I could see Cpl. Megeney on the ground with a gunshot wound on his right side.”
Wilcox, 23, of Glace Bay, a member of the 2nd Battalion of the Nova Scotia Highlanders, is on trial facing charges of manslaughter, criminal negligence causing death and negligent performance of duty in the death of Megeney, 25, of Stellarton.
