In April 2024, Taylor Japp, identified as a drug dealer in southern Saskatchewan, allegedly shot and killed Briana Hayes, a mother of three, and attempted to conceal the crime. The prosecution, led by Crown Prosecutor David Belanger, outlined this narrative during Japp’s trial for second-degree murder at the Estevan Court of King’s Bench.
According to Belanger, Briana Hayes, aged 28, was struggling with addiction and entered into an arrangement with Japp to sell drugs and reside with him in Oxbow, a community around 250 kilometers southeast of Regina. Japp, aged 26, became dissatisfied with Hayes’s behavior related to his illicit activities, leading to a confrontation at a residence on White Bear First Nation on the night of April 23, 2024. The altercation culminated in Japp shooting Hayes in the chest with a .45-caliber gun in the early hours of the following day.
Subsequently, Japp allegedly coerced Tyler Shaw, an acquaintance, at gunpoint to assist in disposing of Hayes’s body. The pair purportedly transported the body approximately 10 kilometers east to an abandoned farm where it was placed in an outhouse. Shaw was later released by Japp after his phone was confiscated and destroyed. Shaw sought refuge with a friend who alerted the authorities after learning of the incident.
Shaw was apprehended by the RCMP shortly thereafter, and Hayes’s body was discovered by investigators on April 25. Japp was later arrested, but not before allegedly arranging for an associate, Brendan Gibson, to dispose of inculpatory evidence, including clothing, offering money to kill Shaw, and concealing the murder weapon.
Gibson is expected to testify regarding these events during the trial. He allegedly surrendered the firearm to Michael Hayes, the victim’s uncle, under duress. Michael Hayes, distrustful of law enforcement, initiated his own investigation into his niece’s death.
Shaw initially faced charges as an accessory after the fact to murder, but these were subsequently dropped. Belanger revealed that Shaw tragically took his own life about a month and a half following Japp’s preliminary hearing for the murder charge.
The prosecution anticipates calling at least 33 witnesses to testify in the case. Japp’s defense team, headed by Thomas Hynes, is yet to present its case theory. A jury comprising ten women and four men has been empaneled to preside over the trial, scheduled to run until October 9.