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It’s a full house here in the courtroom. Dean Penney has been sworn in on the Bible, and his testimony is underway.

The jury is watching Penney intently. Some have notebooks but little note taking is happening. Jennifer Hillier-Penney’s family is in the front row in the gallery. Some are staring at Penney, others have their eyes on the jury. You could hear a pin drop in the courtroom.

Testimony starts off with basic questions about Penney’s life. He’s 52, from St. Anthony. He spent most of his life fishing for a living — crab, shrimp, turbot, seals. Penney says they built a new house in St. Anthony around 2012. It’s the same house Jennifer Hillier-Penney disappeared from on Nov. 30, 2016.

It’s a full house here in the courtroom. Dean Penney has been sworn in on the Bible, and his testimony is underway.

It’s 2 p.m. NT and court will be back in session soon. Dean Penney is about to begin his testimony.

Lawyers for the Crown and defence have arrived at the courthouse. The Hillier family is here as well. We’re waiting now to see if everything is a go for Dean Penney’s testimony this afternoon. 

We’ve got a problem. The jury has just been informed there’s an issue with the recording equipment in the courtroom. We’re going to break now and come back at 2 p.m. NT. 

This has happened once before, when the judge said there was too much feedback in the recording. That’s a problem because they have to ensure the recording is clean so transcripts can be made, and the jury can listen back to sections of the trial if they have questions during their deliberations.

We’re headed back into the courtroom now.

Just a note as we head back into the courtroom: connectivity in the room is poor. We’ll do our best to file updates in a timely manner, but there’s little to no cell service in the room once we go inside.

This is Alex Kennedy, a digital reporter based in Corner Brook.

I’ve been covering the trial for the last couple of weeks, and the energy in the courtroom today feels much different.

There’s a sense the stakes are higher; we can feel the pressure in the courtroom.

Cooke is outlining details of notes from Dec. 10, 2017, of a conversation with family friend Morley Hillier, who had information about the investigation. Morley Hillier is a family friend of Jennifer, no relation.

Hillier said he spoke with Dean Penney in the parking lot of a Scotiabank. He said Penney told him that Jennifer would “disappear” and wouldn’t take "everything that he had worked for."

Morley Hillier had previously testified that this happened in St. Anthony. But according to Cooke’s notes, he told him this happened in Clarenville. No further questions from the defence. 

Defence lawyer Mark Gruchy says next up is Dean Penney. But first, they have a small issue to iron out. We’re on break now for 15 minutes.

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