Murder trial hears about tensions that led to stabbing outside Saskatoon

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Anthony Burley says he did not see what happened after his friend Colton Lischka got out of a car with James “Ed” Swift as they were pulled over on a gravel road north of Saskatoon.

On Tuesday, he told a Saskatoon King’s Bench courtroom that the last thing he saw before Swift and his friend Virginia Belhumeur were left in a ditch off Penner Road around 5:30 a.m. on Aug. 29, 2022 was Swift pulling Lischka out of the passenger seat while Belhumeur got out of the back seat.

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Burley said he thought Lischka and Swift were just fighting, and didn’t know there’d been a stabbing until he was arrested later that day.

Swift, 40, died from a stab wound to his neck. Belhumeur was also stabbed, but survived.

Lischka, 31, and Ashtin Ritzand, 30, are on trial, charged with second-degree murder, attempted murder and robbery for allegedly using violence to steal a cellphone. Their judge-alone trial began on Jan. 13.

Burley told Crown prosecutor Paul Scott that he met the victims outside the Hose and Hydrant bar in Saskatoon’s Broadway neighbourhood after having “a bit of a scuffle” outside the off-sale around 3 a.m.

During cross-examination, he agreed with Lischka’s lawyer, Nicholas Stooshinoff, that Swift slammed his fist on the hood of his car in the parking lot, and they started arguing. Stooshinoff said it was because Burley had bumped Swift while pulling out. Burley said he wasn’t aware of it.

He testified that they left and returned, made amends with Swift and Belhumeur outside the bar, and invited them over for drinks.

Court watched surveillance video from a cab ride with Burley in the passenger seat, and Swift and Belhumeur in the back seat. They met Ritzand and Lischka at Burley’s basement suite on Marlatte Street, in the city’s Evergreen neighbourhood.

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Burley told court that Swift was drunk and yelling, and asked for a ride. He said Ritzand drove his (Burley’s) car — a white Honda Civic — because he was sober.

He testified that they stopped at a house, but he didn’t know why. He also said he doesn’t remember anyone buying drugs from the house.

Scott then asked Burley to read his testimony from the preliminary hearing, when he said Belhumeur got cocaine from the house.

“I never seen them buy it, but yeah sure, obviously they did get cocaine from that house,” Burley said when questioned about the inconsistency.

He said he had bought cocaine the previous night and had used a couple of grams earlier that night.

Scott asked Burley if the argument between Swift and Lischka got worse after the cocaine purchase. He said he wasn’t involved with the cocaine and doesn’t recall any dispute over it.

“You held the cocaine, and that triggered (Swift). That’s what led to the fight,” Stooshinoff suggested during cross-examination, noting this was the second altercation Burley had with Swift that night.

Burley agreed he was sick of the yelling and fighting.

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Earlier, he testified that Swift told them to keep driving and they eventually stopped on a gravel road. He said “(Swift) was still ranting and raving, still throwing a fit” while assaulting Lischka, who was in the passenger seat.

“There was no rhyme or reason why he was doing that. There was no indication of the wrongdoing on any of our part,” Burley said.

He testified that Swift then tried to pull Lischka out of the car. He said he was in the back seat with Belhumeur and Swift, and stayed in the car the entire time. Ritzand was still in the driver’s seat when Belhumeur started rummaging through the car, trying to steal prepaid credit cards he had bought earlier that night, Burley said.

Meanwhile, Lischka and Swift were fighting outside, he told court.

He said at one point, Ritzand and Lischka were close to the car, and Belhumeur and Swift were behind the car and out of his sight. Lischka and Ritzand got back inside, and Ritzand drove to an off-sale, Burley testified.

Later that day, Warman RCMP tried to pull Burley’s car over in a Wendy’s parking lot. Burley testified that he was driving drunk and “ran” from police.

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In intercepted jail calls to his baby’s mother, Burley said “There was like two and a half zip of blow in there” that she could get from his house. He told Stooshinoff that meant two Zip-loc bags, not two ounces of cocaine.

Stooshinoff accused Burley of lying to the court when he denied searching “Anthony Burley murder Saskatoon” on his cellphone before he was charged. He asked him about Snapchat messages with a man offering to help him hide out, suggesting Burley stabbed Swift and Belhumeur and took Belhumeur’s phone, broke it and hid it in his bed.

Burley denied this, saying the phone that was found belonged to his baby’s mother.

Ritzand’s lawyer, Blaine Beaven, asked Burley about his police statement on Aug. 30, 2022. Burley claimed he was intoxicated — even though he’d been in custody for 24 hours — then said he was sleep-deprived and hungover.

He admitted he was lying when he said he wasn’t in Saskatoon the day before, that he didn’t know how his car got into the Hose and Hydrant parking lot, and that he last saw the victims in the cab.

Beaven asked Burley why he went back to the bar to engage with strangers.

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“You didn’t owe them anything,” Beaven said.

“I’m a nice guy,” Burley replied. Beaven suggested that Burley saw Belhumeur taking a picture of his licence plate, and he wanted to befriend her so she wouldn’t report him to SGI.

“That is not true,” Burley said.

Beaven then suggested that Burley offered Belhumeur and Swift a ride from his house so they could buy drugs. They argued over payment for the cocaine, and Burley demanded that Belhumeur delete the photo before handing over the cocaine, Beaven said.

That’s why Burley took Belhumeur’s phone and smashed it in the basement suite, Beaven concluded. Burley denied Beaven’s theory.

Burley remains charged with being an accessory after the fact to murder; his other murder charges were stayed in July 2023.

Belhumeur is scheduled to take the stand on Wednesday.

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