Yellowknife (Oct 31/03) - Marshall Sayers held back tears during his testimony for his brother, Ronald Sayers, and Shelly Elanik's second-degree murder trial Monday.

Both Sayers and Elanik have pled not guilty.

To a packed courthouse, Marshall recalled how he awoke to the sound of his nephew crying on the morning of Oct. 17, 2001.

When Marshall did not hear his brother or his brother's girlfriend, Elanik responded to their baby. He got up and attempted to calm the child.

According to Marshall, 10 or 15 minutes later his brother and Elanik returned to the apartment with blood on their hands and clothes.

"Ronnie had a rock in his hand with blood all over it," testified Marshall. "Shelly came in with a knife in her hand and blood on her hands and jacket."

Prior to Marshall's testimony, the jury was told that on the morning of Oct. 17, 2001, the body of Keith Blair, a 46-year-old disabled man who worked the night shift at the Mackenzie Hotel, was discovered dead by a hotel staff member.

Also admitted to the court was the fact Blair had died of massive cranial trauma from multiple blows to the head by a blunt object.

Additionally, the jury was told that blood found on Elanik's white Nike running shoes, which Marshall testified she was wearing upon returning to the apartment, matched the DNA of the victim.

Under cross-examination from the defence, there were small inconsistencies between Marshall's preliminary hearing testimony and his statements under oath Monday.

However, Marshall's recollection of the timeline of events did not waver: Ronald and Elanik returned to the apartment with blood on their clothes, and that after repeated requests by Ronald for Marshall to dispose of money bags allegedly taken from the Mackenzie Hotel and the blood-stained rock, Marshall complied.

Marshall testified that later, he directed the RCMP to the location of the items he had dumped.

The bags were found in the forest across from the Midnight Sun Recreation Complex and the rock outside the apartment.

The trial is expected to take several weeks to complete.