A man told B.C. Supreme Court on Friday about a disturbing and bizarre encounter he had in a Port Alberni house where a man was shot and killed at point-blank range four days later.
Trevor Richards, the first witness for the defence, took the stand at Samantha Dittmer’s trial for the second-degree murder of her son, Jesse McPhee, on Aug. 29, 2021.
Richards, 48, testified that he met McPhee and Dittmer on Aug. 25, 2021, when he was leaving the Lower Mainland and moving to Port Alberni. In a post on Facebook Marketplace, Richard said he needed a place to rent. He received a message from McPhee that morning.
“Jesse said something like: ‘Hey Bud, I might have something that works for you. Give him a call when you can,’ ” he recalled.
He messaged McPhee back, saying he was in town for the day and would like to come see him. But when he called McPhee later in the day, McPhee told him it wasn’t a good day and he’d had a few drinks.
Richards asked if they could just meet and talk about the business end of it another time. McPhee agreed and gave him the address.
He drove over and was met by McPhee, who had a logging stamp — similar to a sledge hammer but used for branding wood — over his shoulder. “It was a little weird,” he testified.
When McPhee brought him into the back of the house, Richards noticed countless holes in the walls and no flooring in the kitchen area, only bare plywood. McPhee opened a door to the bedroom and Richards saw nine to 11 rifles and crossbows stacked up on a bed.
“So he showed me to the room that would be mine. I’m just riding it out at this point cause I just want to get it done. But I had to meet his mum. She was the last word on it,” he said.
Dittmer’s part of the house was immaculate, he recalled. He sat down with her and noticed she was chain smoking and had a little bit of nervous energy.
McPhee left right away and Richards confided to Dittmer that he was in his seventh year of recovery and needed stability.
“I can’t be around chaos and I’ve got concerns about being around his energy. We chatted a bit and she seemed to warm up to talking back and forth. And I was frank about my past as well, and that it had been many years since I’d gotten my stuff together,” he testified.
Dittmer told him McPhee had a brain injury and had been drinking a bit recently.
She offered him a room upstairs, but Richards wanted to leave the house as soon as he could, he testified.
“Then Jesse interrupted the interview. He came upstairs with a sawed-off Winchester repeater rifle. He sat down in between me and her. He had a bullet in his mouth and put it in the chamber, cocked it and he had it, not pointed directly at me, but five degrees and it would have been,” he testified. “He asked me if I was a pedophile, if I screwed his wife at work, if I would rip off his mum. I’m sweating and twitching inside.” Richards told him no, no and no, he testified.
“I seemed to pass the test and he backed off with the rifle. Then he was like best buddies, totally different channel on the radio,” he testified.
Richards exchanged numbers with Dittmer. As he left, McPhee unlocked the back compound gate area for him to drive his truck out. “It appeared like he had pissed himself,” Richards testified.
He testified that he told his friends in Port Alberni what had happened and went back to the mainland the next day.
Four days later, his friend tagged him in a Facebook post about the murder. Richards testified that he immediately recognized the house and the camper in the driveway. He called Dittmer’s number and left a voicemail, asking if she was OK and leaving his number.
“I assumed she’d been killed. Straight up. A day later, I found out she was the accused in the matter,” Richards testified.
He talked to his family and friends and they agreed it would be proper for him to contact the police.
Trudy Wale, who works as a family law advocate at the Port Alberni Friendship Centre, also testified for the defence Friday.
Wale said both McPhee and Dittmer suffered a lot of angst over McPhee’s legal battles with his ex-wife. It was a very high-conflict and challenging file and she spent many hours helping them, she testified.
“I always felt there was great care between the two of them,” said Wale. “I never witnessed anything negative. The only time I was given any insight into their relationship was once when I gave Samantha a ride … She shared that she was actually afraid of him.”
The trial continues Tuesday.
