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By Regan Tate

Robert Hoefman Murder Trial

Court hears how murder victim was being watched night before his body was found

Mar 4, 2021 | 12:27 PM

Medicine Hat, AB–A neighbor of murder victim James Satre took the stand Thursday morning at the first-degree murder trial of Robert Hoefman.

Darla Dolan lived two doors down from Jame Satre on Mill Street back in October 2017. She and her husband Joseph had been out walking their dog on the evening of October 10th. She testified seeing a man who struck her as odd watching Satre working in his yard. Dolan recalled the man was dressed in black with his hood pulled up to disguise his face. He also had dark bulky sunglasses. According to Darla , the man had bad energy telling court “I had a bad feeling something wasn’t quite right about this person.” Under cross examination by the defence, Dolan admitted to having poor eyesight and testified she never saw the man’s face.

On their way back from their walk, Dolan and her husband had stopped to chat with Satre. Dolan told court Satre was excited about an upcoming trip to see his nephews who he was very close with.

Dolan and her husband then headed home, smoked some pot and went to bed around nine that night. Dolan also took some bi-polar medication that she takes every night to help her sleep. She got up early the next morning and testified it was still fairly dark out as she rode her bike to work.

Defence lawyer Heather Ferg questioned Dolan about her relationship with her husband. Ferg suggested Joseph had a temper and if angry could get violent. Dolan responded, “he can but doesn’t.”

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Court also heard about a domestic dispute between the couple back in 2011 in which Dolan’s husband had chased her around the house with a knife. Dolan stated she had been physically abusing her husband and he was chasing her to make her stop. When pressed about whether she was fearful for her life, Dolan stated she was afraid one of them was going to get hurt, she just didn’t know who. She testified they both had tempers from unhealed traumas stemming from years of abuse.

Joseph Dolan also took the stand Thursday morning breaking down in tears several times as he described the moment he found Satre’s body the morning of October 11th, 2017.

Dolan who is blind had been coming back from an early morning walk with his dog when the animal started acting very odd. He testified that his dog kept pulling him which was unusual behavior. At first Dolan thought it was a log but when he bent down, Dolan realized it was a human body. “I had a feeling it was James,” Dolan testified. “I felt for a pulse but there was no sign of life at all.”

The Crown’s theory is that Satre was a random victim killed to further a $1-million dollar extortion plot of a Medicine Hat man. A letter demanding money or several people including small children would be killed was found found taped to the front door of a local business on October 10th.

Testimony continues Thursday afternoon.