Waylon Percy Junior Jackson, 26, is pictured in this photo from the GoFundMe website. Jackson was stabbed to death in Kelowna on Friday, March 11, 2016.
Image Credit: gofundme.com
March 06, 2018 - 1:45 PM
KELOWNA – No family members were present for the start of a murder trial this morning, even though the victim and the man accused of killing him were almost brothers.
Chad Alphonse is charged with the second degree murder of his close friend, Waylon Percy Jackson. His Supreme Court trial by jury began today, March 6, almost exactly two years after he was arrested for the violence that would tear two families apart.
According to opening statements by Crown prosecutor Dave Grabavac, Jackson was in a relationship with the sister of Alphonse’s common-law wife. A group of friends, including the accused, the victim and both women, were at Jackson’s Gerstmar Road townhouse planning a baby shower for his newborn.
Alphonse and his girlfriend began to argue. When Jackson came downstairs "to stop them" the argument escalated into a physical fight. Jackson hit Alphonse over the head with a chair.
“Jackson started winning the fight… dropped the chair and walked away,” Grabavac said.
That’s when Alphonse allegedly stabbed him, once from behind and twice more when he turned around to face him.
The autopsy shows Jackson had a superficial slash mark on one of his shoulders, and two deep cuts under an arm.
Police found his blood-soaked body leaning against the kitchen cupboard in a sitting position. He was shirtless, eyes open, in a pool of his own blood.
“Mr. Jackson was lifeless,” Grabavac said.
Alphonse was not at the house when police arrived, but he was found walking along Nickel Road shortly after and arrested. Grabavac says police found a knife in his back pocket.
“There was blood on the blade and handle," he told Justice Catherine A. Murray.
Jackson died of blood loss caused by a stab wound that pierced his left lung and heart, according to the autopsy.
Crown intends to call up to 27 witnesses over the three-week trial, including police officers, family, friends and doctors. They will also show photographs collected at the scene, as well as video surveillance footage from cameras scattered around the townhouse complex.
"I love both boys," Alphonse's grandmother-in-law Rita Durett said in 2016. "This is such a tragedy for both families."
Crown's opening statement is the Crown's theory of what evidence jurors are expected to hear at trial, it is not evidence in itself.
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