When he took the stand on Friday, Joseph Hodgkin, 54, told the court that after he was called out to the apartment of the accused in July of 2020 he arrived and found the victim Grant Norton dead on the couch.
He said Ashley Bourget seemed to be having fun at the time and he even described her mood as ‘joyful.’
However under cross-examination from defence lawyer Mary Cremer on Monday, Hodgkin seemed to contradict his earlier testimony saying that the 40-year-old Bourget was having panic attacks adding, “I remember there was a lot of emotions, shock... emotions between me and Ashley, emotions about the situation, nothing personal but it’s not everyday you walk in on a dead body.”
Hodgkin, a father of nine said last week that the accused was one of his ‘baby mamas.’
He said on the night he found Norton’s body both he and Bourget were stressed out saying, “Her being the mom of one of my children, I have feelings for her... I felt bad for her.”
He said he focused on the task at hand on the night in question, which was to get Norton’s body out of the apartment.
He called a friend and they wrapped Norton’s body in plastic and stuffed him in a large barrel saying, “I don’t believe his body would bend, I remember him being very stiff.”
The court heard that Hodgkin would eventually wheel the barrel with Norton’s body in it on a lawnmower and dump it along a ravine by the Thames River near Jacqueline and Ada Streets in east London.
The body would be found not far from the apartment of the accused, which was at 20 Adelaide Street South.
In August 2023, Hodgkin pled guilty to being an accessory after the fact and was sentenced.
Later under re-examination from Crown Attorney Lisa Defoe, Hodgkin would be questioned about his change in testimony at the trial saying, “Friday I was just looking to give answers so I could get out of here.”
He said he’s been stressed about testifying at the trial for the past three weeks saying, “I was frustrated from the second I walked through the door quite frankly, I don’t want to be here... I did my time.”
The court has heard that Norton along with the witness and the accused were all known to each other and at times they did deals together in London’s drug subculture.
Charged with first degree murder, Bourget has pled not guilty.
The trial resumes on Tuesday.
