Hikoalok, who was 18 at the time and is now 22, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in Salm’s death. Salm, who was 59 at the time of her death, was found beaten in the Christian Science Reading Room, where she worked, on Laurier Avenue West on May 24, 2018. Ontario Superior Court Justice Anne London-Weinstein is presiding over the jury trial at the Elgin Street courthouse in Ottawa. Salm was found the victim of an attack at the Christian Science Reading Room in downtown Ottawa on May 24, 2018. She died in hospital the next day. (Facebook) The court heard Hikoalok had attended the Debbie Campbell Learning Academy at 440 Albert St. from 2015 to 2018. The program offers support to young people who may have experienced crisis or otherwise have difficulty maintaining a regular school placement. Tracy Ludmer, a teacher at the Debbie Campbell Learning Academy, said Hikoalok’s attendance dropped off after his 18th birthday in January, when he was no longer required to attend. Ludmer said Hikoalok took a while to warm up to people, but he was generally well-liked by the staff and some of the younger students looked up to him. “He was observant and very funny,” Ludmer told the court. “He was very friendly with us and loved to joke with us. He didn’t like to do academics … with encouragement he would succeed.” Ludmer said she remembered seeing Hicoalok the day Salm was beaten when she arrived to class late in the morning after a doctor’s appointment. He said he was sitting at her desk and said his usual greeting. “Tyler liked to greet me by giving me the finger. It was a joke he did a lot,” she said. A still from surveillance video taken at 440 Albert St. which was part of a Crown-produced video schedule. Witnesses told the court they identified the person in the video as Tyler Hikoalok. (Report/Ontario Superior Court of Justice) Ludmer told the court she remembered Hikoalok interacting normally with other students, looking for hats and shoes on the classroom computer, and detected no signs of drug or alcohol intoxication. Under cross-examination by defense attorney Michael Smith, Ludmer agreed that she had not checked his bag or specifically discussed with him whether he had consumed drugs or alcohol before class. Ludmer also said she did not explain herself well when she told police in a June 4 interview that she no longer monitored Hikoalok’s presence in the classroom. She also said since four years have passed, she is less sure of her memory of details such as Hikoalok’s clothing. He said they were still keeping a place for him to continue his studies even though his attendance had dropped and agreed with Smith that he believed he had potential.
Enjoy making music
Ronald Destiné, a youth counselor at the learning academy, said Hikoalok would regularly talk to him about a range of topics, including his passion for creating hip hop music. Hikoalok regularly talked about a studio he attended on Wednesdays to record music, and they talked about it on May 24, a Thursday, Destiné said. “We talked. He was telling me he went into the studio the night before and created some new music,” she said. Destiné said he did not notice anything out of the ordinary with Hikoalok that day and detected no signs of drug or alcohol intoxication on May 24. Destiné said he had seen Hikoalok drunk on several occasions – where he was calm, withdrawn and slurred his words or otherwise “off” his normal behavior. In these situations, Hikoalok became isolated from other students. The defense is expected to continue cross-examining Destiné Friday.
“I didn’t know I killed anyone”
Earlier on Thursday, the court heard about the arrest of Hikoalok on May 27, 2018 by Const. Steve Luchies, who was part of the tracking team that tracked him down. Luchies said they watched Hikoalok asking for cigarettes around the ByWard market and briefly entering the Youth Services Bureau. During the arrest at the corner of Rideau and Nelson streets, Luchies said Hikoalok spoke to him after he was handcuffed but before the constable read him his rights. Luchies, referring to his notes, told the court that Hikoalok said: “I was drunk two days ago… I didn’t know I killed anybody… I woke up on the pavement.” Luchies said other than to tell him he was under arrest for first-degree murder and sexual assault, he did not provide any other details about the alleged offense. Luchies also said he told Hikoalok that he had not yet been read his rights and to remain silent. Luchies said Hikoalok had no difficulty following directions during the arrest, did not resist and did not appear to be in trouble. After the constable read him his rights and a warning about statements made to police, he said Hikoalok repeated several times: “I didn’t know I killed anybody.”
