Clairvoyant in Jagtar Gill murder trial told accused she had 68 past lives

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/gill-ronald-trial-day-six-1.3607514

Susanne Shields tells court accused Gurpreet Ronald had contemplated suicide

By Laurie Fagan, CBC News Posted: May 30, 2016 3:30 PM ET Last Updated: May 30, 2016 4:53 PM ET

Bhupinderpal Gill, left, and Gurpreet Ronald, right, have been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Jagtar Gill. (CBC

An Ottawa woman who claims to be clairvoyant says she performed a psychic reading for two alleged lovers charged with murder and that she discovered the accused female had led 68 lives in the past, an Ottawa court heard Monday.

Susanne Shields, a federal bureaucrat who has a side business as a feng shui practitioner, a life coach and a clairvoyant, was testifying for the third day at the first-degree murder trial of Bhupinderpal Gill, 40, and Gurpreet Ronald, 37.

Gill and Ronald are charged in connection with the killing of Jagtar Gill, 43, wife of Bhupinderpal Gill, after her stabbed and bludgeoned body was found in the couple's home on Jan. 29, 2014, in the Ottawa neighbourhood of Barrhaven.

The Crown alleges the co-accused, who have pleaded not guilty, were in a long-standing affair and had conspired to kill Jagtar Gill.

Bhupinderpal Gill and Ronald, who drove buses for OC Transpo and lived in the same neighbourhood, are being tried together, but have separate defence teams.

Counselling session included psychic reading, court hears 

Under cross-examination Monday by Michael Smith, the lawyer for Gurpreet Ronald, Shields was asked about the life-coaching session she held with the two accused on April 22, 2012.  

She testified late last week to Ontario Superior Court Justice Julianne Parfett and the 12-person jury that the couple came to her to determine if she could see a future in which the two — both of whom were married — would eventually end up together.

Clairvoyant Susanne Shields has been questioned by both defence lawyers over testimony she had not mentioned to police or in the preliminary hearing. (Laurie Fagan/CBC)

Smith asked Shields if the three-hour counselling session included a psychic reading, which delves into a person's past.

Shields acknowledged she had done one for Ronald and discovered she had 68 past lives, including one with her husband, Jason Ronald.

Smith pressed Shields to admit that she told Ronald she was a clairvoyant and that she could talk to dead people, including Ronald's mother and Gill's grandfather, both of whom had passed away.

Shields testified that only a small portion of the session involved a psychic reading, and most of it was about how the couple could be together in the future. She added they also talked about feng shui and how it would help Ronald sell her home.

Ronald contemplated suicide, witness says 

In the followup session to that first meeting, Shields testified, Ronald phoned her in May 2012.

"Gurpreet said she wanted to commit suicide because she was so distraught," said Shields. "I told her she has two kids and she needs to think about them."

After she revealed this phone conversation in court, Ronald's lawyer asked Shields in a heated exchange why she never told the police about Ronald threatening to take her life, or mentioned it at the preliminary hearing for the trial.

"No one ever asked me, and I felt I gave pertinent and prominent details to the police and to you," said Shields.

Smith asked her why she didn't think it was important to bring up the suicide threat.

"I took discretion about the highlights of my interactions with Ronald and Gill," said Shields. "I could have told you Gurpreet had an upset stomach."

Last week Shields told the court that Ronald said in the counselling session that she and Gill "would do anything to be together" and that Bhupinderpal Gill nodded in agreement.

Gill's lawyer James Harbic had asked during his cross-examination of Shields why she hadn't mentioned that that Gill had nodded yes in either her police statement in 2014 or at the preliminary hearing.

"No one asked me," Shields responded.

Forensic evidence linked to accused

Jagtar Gill, 43, was found dead in her home on Jan. 29, 2014. Her husband and neighbour were later charged with first-degree murder. (Gill family)

Earlier last week, the court heard from a police forensic investigator that DNA obtained from a bloody knife and blood found spattered throughout the Ottawa home after Gill was stabbed and bludgeoned to death matched Ronald's.

The court also heard that one of the items with blood on it, a weightlifting bar, was found in a box in the basement. Police switched the bar with a replica and set up a video camera to monitor what happened with the bar.

The court saw video footage of Bhupinderpal Gill removing the replica bar from the box.

Sometime later, police followed Bhupinderpal Gill to Cedarview Road where they say he threw the replica bar into a wooded area, court heard.