Warning: disturbing content

VANCOUVER -- Michelle Saldeba told the murder trial of Kerry Ann Lewis she first met the accused and her daughter, Aaliyah Rosa, at a church where she was the children’s pastor.

Lewis is accused of first degree-murder in the seven-year-old's death. The court has heard testimony about how Aaliyah’s body was found in a Langley apartment where Lewis was living on July 22, 2018.

Saldeba told the court Aaliyah would run to her when she came to church and jump into her arms, and stayed with her as she made her rounds.

“She just was full of joy,” Saldeba said.

Saldeba testified she did not get to know Aaliyah’s mother very well, and did not discuss personal matters with her.

After Aaliyah’s death, Saldeba told the court she went to visit Lewis in prison, but not as a representative of the church. She told the court she was "in shock" when she learned the little girl had died.

“I wanted to just be there for her, look at her, speak with her,” Saldeba said, referring to Lewis. “Because I went in the frame of mind thinking this couldn’t, she couldn’t have done this, and so I’m here for her.”

Saldeba testified during their conversation in the prison, she asked Lewis what happened to Aaliyah.

“She said she didn’t know, and I’m like, what do you mean?” Saldeba told the court. “And she said she didn’t know.”

Saldeba testified Lewis told her after picking Aaliyah up from her ex-husband Stephen Rosa at the Langley Events Centre, she drove around in circles for a bit, "so that he wouldn’t know exactly where she lived."

“And after that she blacked out,” Saldeba testified. “And I remember asking, but how do you mean you blacked out? And she just doesn’t remember what had happened, she said.”

Saldeba’s testimony was given during a voir dire, or trial within a trial, as initially the defence intended to oppose its admissibility based on religious communication privilege, but did not end up pursuing that argument.

Saldeba testified Lewis also spoke to her about her childhood, and her former marriage, at one point telling Saldeba about a time her ex had got a restraining order against her. Saldeba told the court Lewis said she had witnessed infidelity involving her then-husband and her sister, and was talking to them while she was cutting meat and had a knife in her hand. Saldeba testified Lewis told her that led to the police being called.

During Rosa’s testimony, he also described an incident that led him to obtain a restraining order against Lewis temporarily, but said it was after she tried to burn the house down in June 2016. He told the court he received a text saying the house was on fire, and then went inside to find a dishcloth wrapped around the bottom of a pot that was in flames.

Rosa also previously testified Lewis was hospitalized multiple times during their relationship due to overdosing on medication. Rosa told the court he had custody of Aaliyah following his separation from Lewis in 2016, and she initially had two supervised visits with their daughter each week, which changed to unsupervised in April 2018.

The Crown has said it intends to prove Lewis sedated her daughter and then drowned her in a bathtub. In an opening statement, prosecutor Kristen LeNoble told the court Lewis picked up her daughter for one of her scheduled visits on the day of her death, then bought sleeping pills and an emergency refill of Ativan at a drugstore, along with other items. LeNoble told the court Lewis also bought vodka.

Rosa testified when Lewis did not return Aaliyah on time, he called the police and reported he was concerned for his daughter’s safety.

“In the past, she (Lewis) had stated that she would basically take Aaliyah’s life and her life,” Rosa testified. “She would never ever say it directly like that, it was always indirectly, I guess.”

On Monday, Rosa concluded his testimony, and under cross examination told the court more about times Lewis was admitted to hospital during their marriage, including an overdose early in her pregnancy, and another that happened when she had been at home with Aaliyah in December 2014.

“I received a call from my mom, telling me that Aaliyah had face-timed her saying she couldn’t wake up mommy,” Rosa told the court. “So I phoned 911.”

He agreed with a suggestion from defence lawyer Marilyn Sandford that when Lewis’s mental health was poor, she would say things that he knew not to be true.

Rosa also agreed Lewis was saying things like that in the months leading up to Aaliyah’s death, but added it was "hard to tell" if her mood was poor, agreeing there were "ups and downs" within that timeframe.

At the beginning of the trial, LeNoble told the court Lewis was frustrated about her access to Aaliyah.