Trial details daily encounters in 2014

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ST THOMAS — Witness Kursty Allison tried her best to recall the face of the man she described to police as buying bags at the Scarborough Walmart where she worked.

As she testified via teleconference on Wednesday, the former Walmart customer service manager glanced to her left, prompting Boris Panofsky’s defense attorney, Margaret Barnes, to ask her if she was looking at her statement. “I’m trying to find that part,” Allison said.

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“Do you have difficulty remembering this incident?” asked Superior Court Judge Marc Garson.

“I mean that was 10 years ago, so, kind of. Yeah,” Alison said.

Her answer reflects the challenges many witnesses face as the 79-year-old former dog breeder and hairstylist revisits his case. Garson heard testimony from a variety of witnesses, some of whom had long personal relationships with Panofsky, while others, like Allison, had brief contact with him before or after the Sept. 13, 2014, shooting at the Hurlett Provincial Wildlife Refuge north of Clinton in Huron County.

The witnesses, all a decade older, were asked to recall what happened, sometimes in minute detail. The case had become so much a part of their lives that even those who had only had brief contact with Panofsky would casually refer to him as “Boris” when testifying.

Panofsky has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the death of Toronto-area businessman Donato Frigo, 70, and the murder of Eva Wheeler Frigo, 70, who were shot while riding horses to a wildlife area after an annual field dog race.

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Prosecutors said Panofsky held a grudge against Frigo, a hound enthusiast, whom he blamed for bringing him into disrepute in the prestigious hound world. After Panofsky won two national championships and was arrested at a dog trial in Georgia, Frigo changed the name of a prize-winning dog he bought from Panofsky from “Panofsky Silver” to “Belfield Silver.”

Panofsky was tried for eight weeks in Goderich in 2018. He successfully appealed in 2021, and last year the retrial was moved from Goderich to St. Thomas. Just days before the jury was to be selected, Panofsky elected to have the case heard by the judge alone, without a jury.

The case has been moving slowly since the trial began on May 23. The prosecution has called multiple witnesses and has presented more than 150 exhibits so far. The defense has been focusing on details and fleshing out additional details about Panofsky and his activities at the time of the shooting.

Allison and another witness called Thursday had brief, routine interactions with Panofsky for work purposes and likely never imagined they would be testifying about the matter in court a decade later.

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Paul Yang, a sales agent for Grey Power Insurance, recorded a six-minute phone call that Panofsky made just before 5 p.m. on Sept. 15, 2014, two days after the Frigos were shot. The recording was played in court.

Panofsky wanted to cancel all his insurance. “Cancel all of it — car, truck and home, all three. All of it by October 1st,” he said in a phone call played in court. He told Young he heard from a friend that he could get a policy about $200 cheaper, so he wanted to cancel all of his insurance before his renewal date of October 1, 2014.

Panofsky can be heard in the video telling Young, “You cancel now,” and promising, “If I have to go back, I’ll get back to you.”

That same day, Garson heard, Panofsky booked a flight to Macedonia, purchased luggage at Walmart and boarded a flight to Eastern Europe that evening.

Young said he was trained on how to retain customers and advised him to buy a new policy before canceling his existing insurance. But “(Panofsky) seemed hell-bent on canceling the policy,” Young said.

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“He seemed very eager to cancel, so I didn’t want to bother him any more,” Yang said. This was Yang’s only interaction with Panofsky.

Allison’s time with Panofsky was shorter, but her testimony took up much of Wednesday’s proceedings.

Alison, who has worked at Walmart for more than eight years, including seven years at the Scarborough store, was working on an “overpriced” transaction for a cashier at the jewelry counter who was serving a man, identified by prosecutors as Panofsky, who was buying luggage. She had to step in and change the price because one of the two luggage Panofsky purchased was missing two parts.

The court was shown a still photo taken by a ceiling-mounted surveillance camera at Walmart around 2:30 p.m. It showed Alison, then 23, standing on one side of the counter with a cashier and dark-haired Panofsky on the other side with a suitcase in a shopping cart.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelsey Good asked Allison to identify the code on the store receipt for the total sale price of $135.48, as well as the merchandise tags on the suitcase.

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She described the customer as middle-aged, with gray or dark hair and 5 feet 9 inches (5 feet 10 inches) tall. She had never met him before, but said she might have spoken to him because “I’m friendly to everyone.”

But Barnes noted that Allison said in a Nov. 19, 2014, police interview that the man was white, “a little older,” about 40, not too thin or too tall. At the 2018 trial, she said the man was middle-aged and that police did not ask about his height.

Barnes wondered why Allison gave a rough height measurement for the first time on Wednesday, and speculated from the photo that Panofsky is about the same height as Allison, both at 5 feet 3 inches.

“I took a guess. I don’t remember how tall that customer was 10 years ago,” Alison said.

“I have told you everything I can remember.”

The trial will continue on Thursday.

jsims@postmedia.com

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