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Complainant tells court she thought she was going to die

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A woman told the court she feared for her life when she made the decision to throw herself from a truck being driven by her then-boyfriend.

“I thought he was going to kill me,” Pam Wharf said during her testimony at the trial for 40-year-old Aaron Michael Murphy.

Murphy is standing trial on four charges: assault causing bodily harm to and unlawful confinement of Wharf, and charges of dangerous driving and evading police.

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The trial, set for a week, started on Monday at Regina Court of Queen’s Bench.

Wharf took the stand in the afternoon, providing details of what she said happened on the early morning of May 2, 2016.

She told the court she and Murphy had been seeing each other on and off for six years, although the relationship had soured and had become physically abusive.

She said the two had addictions issues at the time and, in the hours before the incident, had used her money to make several crack cocaine buys.

Wharf said as the early morning came around, the two having used the purchased drugs, she wanted to go home and so tried to take Murphy back to his sister’s. She said he grabbed the wheel and wouldn’t let her turn down the street.

Wharf testified she drove them to the Normanview Mall where an argument between the two turned physical over the fact she didn’t want to buy any more crack. Under cross-examination, she denied the argument was over her family.

While at the mall, Wharf asked a passerby to call 9-1-1 and police arrived around the time the truck — with Murphy now driving — pulled away.

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During what became a lengthy police pursuit, Wharf said Murphy struck her repeatedly and bit her twice, but acknowledged her memory of the incident was spotty. She denied punching or biting Murphy, stating she spent the time trying to protect her head and ribs.

Additional details were provided by Regina Police Service Const. Tyrell Deibert, involved in the pursuit of Wharf’s truck. He told the court the truck reached speeds of up to 80 kilometres per hour in city 50 kph zones, and up to 140 kph in 80 kph zones once the pursuit left the city on both paved and gravel roads.

Deibert backed up testimony from Wharf, stating he witnessed the driver repeatedly striking the passenger. And, as Wharf had testified, Deibert said he saw the passenger make several unsuccessful attempts to open the door and get out of the moving truck.

“We were moving too fast,” Wharf said of some of her attempts. “I just wanted to get out of that vehicle.”

She told the court Murphy was swearing at her, and said something that stuck with her — “It’s not going to be so good for you this time” — which she took as a sign her life was in danger.

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She said she was finally able to “bail” when the truck came to an abrupt stop.

While Wharf said she didn’t have much memory of that moment, Deibert said officers got the go-ahead to ram the truck. He said the truck was rammed twice, after which Wharf came out and fell onto the road.

Court heard the truck, rubber blown off one tire following the collision, continued on, at which point the pursuit was called off.

Deibert said police from Moose Jaw later located Murphy and the truck near the intersection of Highway 39 and the Trans-Canada.

Wharf said she spent five days in hospital. Photographs show a woman with swollen, blackened eyes, bruising and swelling to her face and arms and a pair of bite marks — one deep enough to leave scars — on her forearm.

hpolischuk@postmedia.com

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