Katherine Graham had just arrived at her Cormorant Street condominium with her son and daughter on the afternoon of Aug. 3, 2011, when strange things began to happen.
“I could see some vibrations in my kitchen wall, in my hallway, as well,” she testified Thursday at the B.C. Supreme Court trial of Joshua Tyler Bredo for first-degree murder, sexual assault and unlawful confinement.
Graham said she also heard a couple of loud bangs, and assumed all the commotion was coming from the neighbouring unit. She decided to look out the peephole of her front door, then saw the neighbour’s front door open slightly.
“I heard a man’s voice say: ‘Let me go, just let me go.’ ”
Shortly after that, she head sirens approaching the area.
“At that point, I had a gut feeling that they were coming up to my floor.”
She was right, and police were soon there in numbers. Ambulance and fire-department personnel were also on the scene.
Both Bredo, then 26, and his 20-year-old friend Daniel Jordan Levesque were taken from the unit to Victoria General Hospital, where Levesque died.
Bredo was initially charged with second-degree murder, but the charge was stayed in December 2011 due to a lack of evidence. A charge of first-degree murder was filed in December 2012 after more investigation, followed by the addition of a charge of sexual assault and one of unlawful confinement in 2013.
Bredo has pleaded not guilty to all three charges. His jury trial, which began Wednesday, is expected to last up to seven weeks.
A group of Levesque’s out-of-town family members has been taking in the court proceedings. His mother, Stacey Thur, who lives in Revelstoke, testified Wednesday.
On Thursday, Marie Barnes told the court that she and her husband were planning to finalize a rental deal with Levesque and his friend, then 18-year-old Jackson Yauck, the day Levesque died.
She said she was surprised that only Yauck showed up for a 7:30 p.m. appointment to get the paperwork for the rental unit squared away.
Unaware of what had happened, Yauck was sitting on the front steps of the building trying to reach Levesque by phone.
Barnes said she and her husband had been impressed with Levesque and Yauck despite their youth, and agreed to rent to them despite some initial hesitation.
“We were hoping for a young professional, someone a little older.”
