Saint John, N.B., jury examines swords used in killing of N.S. man

SAINT JOHN, N.B. - The swords that are believed to have killed Darrell Eugene Upshaw last year were shown to the jury Wednesday during Scott Taylor's trial on a charge of second-degree murder.
Taylor, 20, sat emotionless in the prisoner's dock as the jury looked at the four swords being described by Const. Stuart Ellis, a 26-year veteran of the Saint John Police Force.
One weapon, a medieval broadsword, was double-edged, sharp and about a metre long.
Upshaw, 33, of Cole Harbour, N.S., died last March 11 of multiple sword wounds - the most horrific being a gash to his skull that began at his hairline and ran to the back of his head.
Police found the broadsword and two samurai swords in an apartment where Taylor lived with a roommate. A rack for the weapons sat on the mantle over a fireplace.
Upshaw's body was found outside the building with another samurai sword lying nearby. A pair of gloves and a sawed-off semi-automatic rifle were also found nearby.
Sometime after 2 a.m. on March 11, robbers burst into Taylor's apartment where he, three males and two women were. The two women were strippers who worked at a club in the city.
Defence counsel Brian Munro has already begun making his case that Taylor and the other men were set up by the strippers.
Both women and three men face robbery charges related to the events of that evening. Parker Jacob Richards is already serving a six-year prison sentence for his role in the robbery.
Ellis spent most of the day on the stand describing the disturbing scene.
He said trails of what appeared to be blood led from where the mortally wounded Upshaw lay to the apartment house, up the two flights of stairs, and directly into the bloody apartment.