The Tribune

By FARRAH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A MAN who was shot and left in the road to die five years ago had gunshot wounds to his back and left forearm, a forensic pathologist testified yesterday.

Wayne Seymour was fatally shot in December 2015. Lynette Charlton is currently on trial before Justice Jeanine Weech-Gomez accused of causing his death.

Prosecutors allege that the 48-year-old shot Mr Seymour on Adelaide Road with a handgun, before fleeing the scene in his Chevy truck.

She is also accused of setting Mr Seymour’s truck on fire and abandoning the vehicle some distance away.

When Dr Caryn Sands gave evidence yesterday, she said she performed an autopsy on Mr Seymour just days after he was pronounced dead after unsuccessful surgery at Princess Margaret Hospital.

Referring to her report, she said that one of the bullets entered the right side of Mr Seymour’s back “with no evidence of close-range discharge from a firearm.”

She explained that it is possible to see soot or gunpowder stippling on the skin of an individual who was shot, “depending on how close the barrel” was to them. However, she said that after a certain distance, a person would not see anything.

During her testimony, Dr Sands also said the same bullet travelled right to left and injured some of Mr Seymour’s ribs along with a portion of his chest wall and the right side of his chest. She said no bullets or bullet fragments were recovered from the wound.

The court was told that another bullet entered the left side of Mr Seymour’s back and injured his spleen, colon and the lower lobe of one of his lungs, before it exited the left side of his chest.

The court was also told that three litres of blood were found in Mr Seymour’s abdomen. Dr Sands said her findings also revealed spillage of his intestinal contents and bleeding around his wound paths.

“This 47-year-old male, Wayne Seymour, died of gunshot wounds to his back and left forearm,” she told the jury. “(The wounds) caused injury to his right lung, spleen and colon and led to extensive bleeding in his abdomen. Despite surgery and resuscitation efforts, he did not recover from his injuries.”