Not long after parting ways with a man who'd told him he'd just busted out of jail, a Whitehorse man randomly banged on a door asking for help, only to have a Mountie answer his knock.

As the off-duty policeman drove the 'very inebriated' Vincent Venedam home, Venedam told him what the self-confessed jail escaper had informed him of earlier.

'He (the police officer) asked me how my evening went. I said I'd met a man who said he'd escaped from jail,' Venedam testified Monday in the latest lurch of a stop-and-go trial for the woman accused of harbouring Whitehorse Correctional Centre prisoner Stephen Haga.

Neither Venedam nor Const. Brian White, the off-duty cop who gave him the lift home, believed the tale.

Just hours later, when he arrived at work for the 6 a.m. start to his shift, White learned Haga, a 37-year-old man being held on robbery charges, had indeed bailed from jail. Haga has since been sentenced for the escape.

White also testified he'd gone by Raven Tsandaya's home last Nov. 24 as he made inquiries at places a cab driver had taken Haga the night before.

Tsandaya initially said she didn't know Haga, but recognized him as someone she'd seen at the jail when he showed her the escaper's photo, the constable testified.

Both Tsandaya and a man staying in the home said they hadn't seen Haga, White told the court.

Tsandaya is charged with rescuing Haga from lawful custody and being an accessory after the fact.

After firing two legal aid lawyers and being refused court-appointed counsel, Tsandaya, 43, was without legal representation Monday.

She'd asked territorial Judge John Faulkner to put off the trail. However, in the face of the prosecution's opposition, Faulkner opted to hear the remaining two Crown witnesses before adjourning the matter so Tsandaya can look into hiring another lawyer.

Several times during the two remaining witnesses' testimony, Tsandaya said she didn't know what to do, and turned for help from the native courtworker sitting with her, though that worker is not a lawyer.

Released from custody last week, Tsandaya, also known as Beverly Smith, said she arrived home to discover much of her property had been stolen. She told the court she'd been planning to sell some things to pay for a lawyer.

Acting on her own behalf Monday, she questioned White as to why he didn't at least phone the RCMP detachment to check if anyone had busted out of WCC after hearing Venedam's story.

'He'd been drinking, so I didn't pay much attention to what he was saying,' White testified.

It was after midnight and he was going to work at 6 a.m., he added.

If anything needed to be followed up, he knew where Venedam lived, said White.

'As a result of you not picking up the phone, (Haga) was let to stay on the streets,' responded Tsandaya.

Venedam, 42, told the court he'd been drinking for a couple of days and was 'in a fog' the evening of Nov. 23.

He was walking up Range Road the same road the jail is on when the man assumed to be Haga asked him for a cigarette.

'He said that he was waiting for a ride,' Venedam testified.

Haga also told him he'd just escaped WCC.

He didn't believe the yarn because Haga was so casual about it and didn't add any details, Venedam testified.

He and Haga got in a car Venedam didn't recall if it was a taxi or if they hitched a ride and drove to two places before ending up at the 202 Motor Inn. The two men split up there, and Venedam started walking home.

By the time he got to the Takhini subdivision, the now-cold man knocked on a door for help because he knew the woman who lived there. She turned out to be married to White.

Earlier, when he first met Haga, the first place they drove to was the residence of a friend of Haga's, but 'for the life of me, I couldn't remember where it was,' Venedam testified.

At one point, Venedam said he recalled seeing the Lions Aquatic Center, but upon reflection thought they may have been driving up Mountainview Drive.

'I can't remember,' he said during his testimony as he tried to recall the details of the night. 'It's embarrassing, really. I guess it's what they call blackouts.'

During earlier testimony in late January, a cab driver said he was '80-per-cent' sure Haga was the man he picked up around bar closing time and took to Tsandaya's McCandless Crescent home.

Two police officers who testified in January said Tsandaya told them at different times that Haga had been staying at her house for two days while he was on the lam.

Haga was eventually spotted in Tsandaya's doorway by a patrolling policewoman. He was arrested after the police dog tracked him to the McCandless Crescent home's attic.

In previous court appearances, Tsandaya said someone else let Haga in while she slept and that she hadn't wanted the man in her residence.

Tsandaya is to be back in court Friday afternoon to set a date for trial continuation.