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Homicide suspect Chris Lee’s girlfriend on Tuesday admitted mendacity to police after they confirmed up at her northwest Calgary house in search of him.

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However Winnie Lo stated she solely hid the actual fact Lee was inside her fortieth Avenue N.W. residence when officers requested about his whereabouts as a result of she wished to speak to Lee first.

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“I type of scared, so I lied,” Lo stated by way of a Cantonese interpreter, after initially saying officers by no means requested about Lee after they got here to her residence on July 29, 2020, solely utilizing his alias, Kevin Barton.

“Did the officers say why they got here to your house?” Crown lawyer Shane Parker requested Lo early in her testimony, earlier than Court docket of King’s Bench Justice Rosemary Nation allowed the prosecutor to ask extra pointed questions.

“No,” Lo replied.

“Who had been they in search of?” Parker inquired.

“Kevin Barton,” Lo stated.

“Did additionally they use the identify Chris Lee?”

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“I can’t bear in mind,” the witness stated.

“Was Mr. Lee house when the police got here?” Parker requested.

“Sure,” Lo stated. “They had been in search of Kevin Barton, proper. So I say no.”

Lee, 62, is charged with second-degree homicide within the July 21, 2020 disappearance of Vida Smith, who was visiting her daughter’s Chestermere house from Montreal.

Whereas Smith’s physique has by no means been found, Lee has admitted accountability for her dying. His lawyer, Cory Wilson, entered a responsible plea to a diminished cost of manslaughter at first of the trial Monday, an admission rejected by Parker who’s continuing with the homicide prosecution.

Lo stated whereas she hasn’t been in contact with Lee since his launch on bail from the Calgary Remand Centre, she stated she nonetheless considers them to be in a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship.

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Parker offered Lo with a transcript of an announcement she gave to murder Det. Dave Candy on Aug. 6, 2020, after Lee had been arrested for Smith’s murder.

She stated Lee was planning to go to a park when her doorbell rang and he or she spoke to officers outdoors.

“Det. Candy stated, ‘proper, you probably did lie’ . . . and also you say, ‘yeah,’ ” Parker requested Lo.

“Sure,” she replied by way of the interpreter.

“Det. Candy then stated . . . ‘and was Chris in the home at the moment, or was he gone?’ and also you say he was in the home?”

“Sure,” Lo acknowledged.

“So earlier, after I requested you about July 29, you knew that you simply lied to the police after they got here in search of Kevin Barton, appropriate?”

“Sure,” Lo stated.

“Ms. Lo, why did you misinform the police on July 29, 2020?” Parker stated.

“As a result of I didn’t know what occurred to him, I wished to ask him,” she stated.

“So that you wished to talk to Mr. Lee first, earlier than you let the officers know the reality, proper?”

“Sure,” the witness stated.

KMartin@postmedia.com

Twitter: @KMartinCourts