A heavy equipment operator working on the University of Manitoba campus the morning a Winnipeg Transit driver was fatally stabbed testified about an altercation outside a parked city bus.
Irvine Jubal Fraser died in the early morning hours of Feb.14, 2017.
Brian Kyle Thomas has pleaded not guilty to second degree murder.
A 12-member jury is hearing evidence in the trial.
Kimberley Defries told court she started her shift hauling snow at 10 p.m. on Feb.13.
She described how she was operating a dump truck while a colleague ran a front end loader.
Defries testified at around 1:45 a.m. Feb. 14, she stopped the dump truck about 60 feet from a Winnipeg Transit bus parked on Dafoe Road.
“As soon as I stopped I went to put on my emergency brake and something caught my eye in my side view mirror,” Defries told court. “I’m seeing some kind of altercation.”
“I see two adults in an altercation and it was just outside the bus. You see a lot of that on campus but this caught my eye. You could see the uniform of the bus driver.”
Defries testified the bus driver had his hands on top of another person who she told court was wearing a black hoodie, black pants and a white t-shirt.
Defries testified she couldn’t see the face of the person wearing the hoodie, describing the person as “not a big individual.”
She told court she never saw the driver strike the person wearing the hoodie.
Defries testified the person wearing the hoodie made a swinging motion with their right arm with a closed fist five to 10 times.
“And then all of a sudden the bus driver went back,” Defries testified. “He went up against the bus... fell to his knees.”
Defries testified she went to the driver.
“When I went to see the bus driver… there was nothing I could do.”
She testified campus police and 911 were called.
Defries testified she spoke with the driver of a bus parked behind Fraser’s and two riders on that bus and was told the person in the altercation with the driver had a knife.
She told court she radioed her colleague and told him not to get out of his loader because the person had a knife, who she saw walking at a brisk pace east on Dafoe Rd.
Under cross-examination by one of Thomas’s lawyers, Kevin Minuk, Defries testified the driver was considerably bigger than the person wearing the hoodie.
“At no point did you see a weapon,” Minuk asked Defries.
To which Defries testified, “No, I did not.”
Defries testified she didn’t tell police about the swinging motion during an initial videotaped statement only hours after the incident.
Bus driver testifies about altercation
Winnipeg Transit operator Giancarlo Dimacali became emotional on the witness stand as he recalled what he saw in the early morning hours of Feb. 14.
Dimacali told court he started his shift at 10 p.m. on Feb. 13 and was driving on route 160 between downtown Winnipeg and the University of Manitoba.
He testified he had made a stop on campus when bus number 112, which was the number of Fraser’s bus, passed his bus number 806.
He testified Fraser’s bus was two stops in front of his bus.
Minutes later, he told court he noticed something.
“It was kind of an altercation,” Dimacali testified. “That happened outside the bus.”
“I pulled up right behind him.”
Dimacali testified he wanted to help or ascertain what was happening.
“I parked behind his bus,” Dimacali testified. “The moment I start moving the bus I saw them fighting each other.”
He testified two people had their hands up in the air, punching each other.
“When I parked it, I was still inside,” he told court.
Crown attorney Keith Eyrikson asked Dimacali, “Did you see them leave the bus together?”
“From inside the bus, from two buses away. Yes sir,” Dimacali testified. “I went closer to them. What I thought was them punching each other, turns out he was stabbing him.”
Dimacali became visibly emotional during his testimony, telling court it’s due to “frustration I wasn’t able to help.”
He testified he got out of his bus.
“When I got closer he was holding a weapon of some type and he was stabbing him,” Dimacali testified. “His hands were in the air trying to block it.”
Dimacali testified it wasn’t clear what kind of weapon it was.
“I could see a reflection from the light, like silver…”
He told court he saw a stabbing motion “more than three times.”
“Did you ever see a weapon in the driver’s hand,” Eyrikson asked Dimicali.
He testified, “No.”
Dimacali testified as he got closer to the two individuals, “I yelled ‘stop’ at the other guy. He turned toward me and walked toward me.”
He told court he had the doors of his bus open and still had two passengers on board so the first thing he thought to do was get back on the bus and close the doors.
Dimacali testified he called 911.
Under cross-examination by one of Thomas’s lawyers, Evan Roitenberg, Dimacali testified he saw each person punching and kicking each other.
He testified he didn’t see anything in anyone’s hand until after he got off the bus.
The trial continues.
