'I dunno': Man with Dale King when Al-Hasnawi was shot says he can't remember anything

James Matheson gave testimony on day four of the Dale King second-degree murder trial, but he didn't want to be there.

Matheson was with King on Dec. 2, 2017, when King allegedlyshot Yosif Al-Hasnawinear a Main Street East mosque.Matheson pleaded guilty last year to obstruction of justice for his role that night. But when the Crown called Kingto give his testimony Tuesday, Matheson's response to most questions were "I dunno" and "I don't remember."

Crown attorney Brian Adsett asked Matheson if he remembered King telling him he'd dumped the gun in a gravel parking lot.

"I don't know," Matheson said. "Not really. I'm having a hard time remembering conversations from two years ago."

Adsett asked Matheson if he remembered King turning and shooting Al-Hasnawi.

"I dunno," Matheson said.

He also asked Matheson if he remembered he and King returning to Matheson's Grant Avenue apartment after the shooting. "Maybe," Matheson said.

"You changed your clothes and you told your girlfriend what happened," Adsett said.

"I can't remember."

He also didn't remember earlier testimony that he and King went to two bars and two parties after that, one on Connaught and one on Main Street ("those are just two streets," Matheson said), or saying that King bragged about the shooting.

"(The questions are) just so little to me," Matheson said at one point."It happened so long ago that " Matheson also told the court he was using a lot of drugs in 2017. He used "most likely crystal (meth), he said, but "probably anything."

He said his memory is hazy because he's heard too many details about the night and can't remember what he was told versus what he remembers. He also agreed with Adsett that he was labelled "a rat" in jail and on social media, and that the reputation was "very unfortunate."

The court heard Mathesonhad previously told police he and King used "a half to a gram" of crystal meth a day, a statement Matheson similarly said he didn't know about. Matheson said he wasn't under the influence of narcotics Tuesday, but that he couldn't remember the last time he slept.

He said "I dunno" as Jonathan Shime, King's lawyer, recounted how Matheson was initially charged with murder. He read from a police transcript from Dec. 4, 2017,Matheson was arrested and initially charged with murder.

Police got him food from McDonald's that day, instead of the cheese sandwiches people usually get when they're arrested. "They're OK," Matheson said of the cheese sandwiches.

King has pleaded not guilty in the jury trial, which began last week and is expected to last another week. As with all testimony, Al-Hasnawi's mother listened to Matheson answer questions, and occasionally put her head in her hands.

Court has heard that King and Matheson were walking on Main Street East in Hamilton's central lower city that night, past the Al-Mostafa Islamic Centre. Al-Hasnawi, 19, was standing outside with his 13-year-old brother and two teenage friends from the mosque.

King and Matheson were "accosting" an older man, the court has heard, and Al-Hasnawi shouted at them to stop. They crossed the street and exchanged angry words. Crown witnesses say Al-Hasnawi saw that King had a gun but wasn't afraid of it.

Matheson punched Al-Hasnawi in the head, the court has heard, and Al-Hasnawi chased them toward Main and Sanford. The agreed statement of facts say King fired once at Al-Hasnawi as he was running, hitting him in the abdomen. Al-Hasnawi collapsed on the sidewalk and died in hospital around 10 p.m.

The trial continues Wednesday in superior court at Hamilton's John Sopinka courthouse.