A Dawson City man who was shot twice was able to drive away from the scene before he bled to death, Yukon Supreme Court heard Thursday.

Crashing into a utility trailer and running over some five-gallon barrels, Robert Truswell managed to escape his attacker only to die after his truck got stuck on a nearby road in the Dawson-area gold fields.

'Seeing the victim the way he was, I thought I would have seen more of a disturbance,' RCMP Const. James Giczi told the court.

Bleeding heavily, Truswell, 53, spun his tires trying to get his vehicle free after he was shot on Aug. 28, 2003.

When that failed, Truswell spent the last few minutes of his life trying to get out of his truck on the passenger side, the court heard.

The details of Truswell's escape were built upon the RCMP analysis of tire tracks that matched Truswell's vehicle.

The day after Truswell died, the tire tracks were photographed and analyzed by Giczi, an RCMP apprenticing forensic identification officer.

The novice, who is still completing his four-year apprenticeship program, was grilled over his lack of experience by defence lawyer Richard Fowler.

Fowler and lawyer Elaine Cairns are representing George Kieran Daunt, who is charged with second-degree murder.

By Aug. 28, 2003, Giczi had only done one or two tire impressions during criminal investigations.

It was also noted that Giczi had only taken a two-hour course on tire impressions during his schooling.

Despite the officer's lack of experience, Fowler took no objection to Giczi being permitted to give expert-evidence in this area. However, the lawyer did say Giczi's evidence might have less weight because of him being new to such investigations.

Giczi testified that after Truswell sped away, Daunt left in his vehicle, going in the opposite direction from Truswell.

The officer could tell the order of who left because Daunt's tire tracks crossed over Truswell's.

Based on evidence heard in court this week, Daunt may have gone the other way because he feared that Truswell might take revenge.

After the shooting, Daunt reluctantly took police to the crime scene. His long-time friend, Camelia Sigurdson, said Daunt's reluctance stemmed from his fear that Truswell would be waiting there with a gun.

Instead, Truswell was found down the road, lying dead in his truck with his head resting on the passenger seat.

Dr. Laurel Gray, a forensic pathologist, estimated that Truswell had bled to death within 10 minutes of being shot.

Earlier this week, the court heard that Truswell had been shot twice while in his truck. One shot had been from a distance, while a second shot had been fired at close range, two to four feet away.

A third shot was fired through the open driver's side window and shattered the glass on the passenger side.

Giczi observed that there was vehicle glass that matched that of Truswell's truck on Gold Hill, where the shooting took place.

The court heard that bits of the glass fell out of the truck as it travelled away from the scene.

Giczi noted shell casings from a gun were also found on Gold Hill.

The day of the shooting, the court heard that Daunt was working on Gold Hill and that Truswell drove up and started harassing him before the shooting.

Police are unsure if Truswell had gotten out of his vehicle during this incident because there were no sock prints in the dirt.

Truswell had not been wearing any shoes during the shooting.

Socks can leave swivel marks in the dirt if a person pivots. However, socks might not leave any marks at all.

There were rubber boots in Truswell's truck, but the way two drops of blood had landed on them suggested he had not been wearing them when he was shot.

During Thursday's court proceedings, Daunt seemed more cheerful. The 50-year-old placer miner, who had appeared relatively sombre-looking throughout the trial, chatted with friends in the gallery before court began Thursday morning.

One of those friends was Sigurdson. The two have been friends for over 25 years. After the shooting, Daunt drove to Sigurdson's house to call the police.

Sigurdson was the first witness to be called before the jury. Since her testimony on Tuesday, the woman has been sitting in the gallery every day behind Daunt taking notes.

After the jury and Justice Ron Veale were called into the courtroom Thursday morning, it was heard that one RCMP witness would be late arriving.

Upon hearing this, Daunt made an inaudible joke. Fowler gave him an amused look and shushed his client. Daunt cupped his hands over his mouth after appearing to realize his outburst was inappropriate.

Over this past week, the court has heard that Truswell was known to threaten, harass and assault some of the residents of Dawson City.

Probably one of Truswell's more notable offences was when he struck a man over the head with a piece of lumber at Diamond Tooth Gerties gambling casino in 1982. The incident earned him the nickname 'Two-by-four Bob'.

Truswell had also threatened to kill his own sister, the court heard.

Sigurdson and her husband, Chuck, shared another story that involved Truswell claiming he was a vegetarian.

When Truswell, a native New Zealander, was still new to Dawson City, the Sigurdsons had invited him over for supper.

Because Truswell claimed to be a vegetarian, he brought his own vegetables over.

Camelia believed Truswell had taken the vegetables from the dump. She salvaged what she could and served Truswell his vegetables.

The woman had made a number of steaks for her other guests.

Despite being a vegetarian, Truswell helped himself to one of the steaks, Chuck had observed.

Camelia testified Truswell seemed to be a vegetarian only during lunches. At supper, Truswell would eat meat.

When Truswell saw that Camelia had thrown most of his vegetables in the garbage, he yelled at her for wasting good food.

Camelia told him he could take the vegetables out of the garbage and take them home with him.

The Sigurdsons had a falling out with Truswell later on when Truswell abandoned a partnership he had with Chuck's brother, court heard.

The two men were to be partners in a mining site, but Truswell decided to take the land for himself.

Over the years, Truswell tried to punch Chuck's brother, run Camelia off the road and threaten to burn down her place of employment at the Downtown Hotel.

The Sigurdsons also believe Truswell stole from them as the couple occasionally found the man uninvited on their property.

The jury heard no evidence today because the lawyers had some issues to resolve among themselves.

The trial could wrap up as soon as next Friday. Before it began, the Crown had anticipated that 100 witnesses could have been called. At that time, some estimated the trial could take up to four weeks.

However, the number of witnesses has since been reduced.