From the moment Roxane Hassan saw Justin Carte walking toward her group of friends, she could tell he was high on drugs.
His arms were flailing. His walk was strange. His voice was low and his words made no sense, the Crown witness testified Monday at Carte’s trial for the second-degree murder of her friend Raphaël Bussières.
The 20-year-old from Quebec City was fatally stabbed in the neck by Carte on a downtown sidewalk just after 12:30 a.m. on Nov. 26, 2016. He died two days later in hospital.
Carte has admitted he struck the blow that killed Bussières.
The issue before B.C. Supreme Court Justice Joyce DeWitt-Van Oosten is Carte’s mental state at the time of the stabbing and whether he had the capacity to form the intent for murder.
Bussières’ parents, grand-parents, three younger sisters, aunt, uncle and six cousins have travelled from Quebec City and Toronto to attend the judge-alone murder trial, the week before Christmas.
“It’s really difficult. It’s really hard to be here, but we have to be,” said his mother, Stéphanie Lachance.
“Raphaël was our only son and he was a really good son. And that’s why we are here.”
“Other members of the family have come to support us,” said his father, Nicolas.
“It’s important for us to be here for Raphaël.”
Carte, wearing red prison-issue clothing, fell asleep several times during the trial.
When the judge expressed concern, defence lawyer Tim Russell explained that Carte was falling asleep because of his medication.
Hassan testified that she, Bussières and another friend, Cédric Lapointe, had a few drinks and smoked some pot in Beacon Hill park earlier that evening. They were walking to a McDonald’s when Carte came toward them.
“Raphaël asked him if he wanted to ‘battle-rap’ with him,” Hassan testified. “Justin made a sound but it wasn’t coherent. We did not understand what he was saying.”
Carte rapped. Then Bussières rapped. There was a back and forth between the two men for about five minutes, Hassan recalled.
But Bussières wanted to rap in French so he said, “Let’s move on.”
They crossed the street.
Hassan turned around and saw Carte following them. Carte appeared next to them and started talking. But she still couldn’t understand what he was saying, she testified.
Then Carte stood directly in front of Bussières.
“He touched Raphaël on the shoulder three times. Raphaël said: ‘Don’t touch me,’ three times. The third time, he said: ‘I’m serious. Don’t touch me,’ ” she testified.
At that moment, Carte made a swinging motion at what she thought was Bussières’ chin.
“Raphaël grabbed his neck and said: ‘Call the ambulance. I’ve been stabbed.’
“I didn’t notice the knife before,” Hassan told prosecutor Steve Fudge.
During cross-examination, Hassan agreed with defence lawyer Tim Russell that Carte was talking nonsense most of the time.
Bussières didn’t threaten Carte when he said, “Don’t touch me.” His tone was flat, perfectly normal, she recalled.
The swing appeared to be in slow motion, she testified. “It barely touched his chin.”
“It all seemed kind of senseless?” asked Russell.
“Yes,” she replied.
Crown witness Robin Dix testified that he was at the bus stop outside the Bay Centre about midnight on Nov. 26, 2016, when he noticed a man moving erratically behind him.
“I kept my distance from him, just to be safe, because you never know what could happen,” he testified.
“It was pretty out of the ordinary. The amount of flailing was unnatural. He was wrapping his arms around his body, throwing them up in the air, spinning. … It seemed like he would have been on something pretty hard,” Dix said.
A group of three people went up to the man and talked for a few minutes, then walked away, Dix testified.
About two minutes later, the man acting erratically followed them.
No one was arguing. No one was agitated or angry during the rap battle.
“It just seemed like fun,” Dix testified.
About five to 10 minutes later, there was screaming from near the McDonald’s.
Dix walked over and saw a man on his knees, grasping his throat.
The trial continues.
