Warning: disturbing content

NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. -- The first-degree murder trial of a Langley woman accused of killing her daughter has now viewed security video from a Shoppers Drug Mart, which the Crown has said Kerry Ann Lewis visited on the day of seven year-old Aaliyah Rosa’s death.

RCMP officer Cpl. Rob Kee, who was working with the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team in July 2018, testified the video shows Lewis and her daughter enter the store. He told the court Lewis can be seen approaching a store employee at one point, and later buying items at the pharmacy counter. Kee testified one of the items being purchased appears to be a blue-coloured bottle-shaped object. He told the court Lewis and Aaliyah can then be seen leaving the store.

In their opening statement, the Crown said Lewis bought an over-the-counter box of sleeping pills, candy and a bottle of blue Powerade, as well as an emergency supply of Ativan. They also said she bought vodka at a liquor store that same morning, after picking up her daughter from her ex-husband for one of two weekly scheduled visits. 

Prosecutor Kristen LeNoble has said they intend to prove Lewis sedated her daughter and then drowned her in the bathtub of a Langley apartment. The court has heard testimony about how the little girl’s body was found in the unit on the evening of July 22, 2018. The defence has not yet presented its case. 

Kee testified he recalled seeing a bottle of blue Powerade and candy in the apartment while the search warrant was being executed, and returned to the Shoppers Drug Mart to request a receipt from when those two items were purchased together.

He told the court the receipt he was provided also showed the purchase of a prescription, and Sleep-eze, a brand of sleeping pill.

Earlier in the trial, Const. Mike Lim with IHIT team testified a bottle of blue liquid photographed in the apartment was not seized by police. Lim also told the court he did not recall finding sleeping pills, or any packaging related to sleeping pills.

During cross examination, Kee said the Powerade and candy appeared to be "out of place" compared to other items in the apartment, which was why they caught his attention. He said he did not know if the Powerade or candy were later seized, and did not recall if there were discussions about returning to the apartment to carry out such a seizure. Kee also did not recall if investigators discussed returning to the suite to search for any indication of the Sleep-eze. 

The trial also heard from a former employee of the Shoppers Drug Mart, Ava Toroghi, who identified herself as the person seen helping the woman and little girl locate something in the store.

Toroghi testified the woman asked where she could find sleeping medication. She told the court the little girl was "very quiet" and "well-behaved."

The trial also viewed video from a BC Liquor store from that morning, showing a woman and a little girl. Former store employee Carolyn Browne testified the woman bought a mickey of vodka.

The court has heard testimony that Aaliyah’s father had custody of her following his separation from Lewis in 2016. LeNoble previously told the court Lewis was frustrated with her access to her daughter. 

The trial has also heard testimony from Lewis’s ex-boyfriend, who told the court he ended their relationship on the morning of Aaliyah’s death, and from Aaliyah’s father, who testified about times when Lewis had overdosed on prescription medication during their marriage.  

The Crown’s final two witnesses, a toxicologist and pathologist, are set to testify this week.