Teasing ends in killing

Trial told fatal fight involving 2 men began with 1 man teasing the other

Chad Alphonse and Waylon Jackson were engaged in a physical fight before Jackson was fatally stabbed in his Rutland home two years ago, a Kelowna court heard Wednesday.

Alphonse, 28, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of 26-year-old Jackson on March 11, 2016.

Jackson’s common-law wife Naomi Foureyes testified in court Wednesday about the events leading up to the stabbing.

That night, Alphonse was teasing Jackson and being sarcastic toward him, Foureyes told the jury.

“(Jackson) was getting annoyed, and you had to keep saying ‘calm down, calm down.’ Isn’t that true?” defence counsel Terry La Liberte said in cross-examination. “That’s true,” said Foureyes. In a statement to police, Foureyes said Jackson got sick of Alphonse’s teasing, and the two men started fighting.

“Chad . . . jumped on Waylon, fighting Waylon, and Waylon fought back,” she told police. “Waylon fought him to the ground. Then Chad whipped out his knife and started stabbing him because Waylon was beating him up.”

Prior to the fight, Foureyes had gone upstairs to be with her young children, a four-year-old boy and a five-week-old girl.

She later came downstairs with the baby.

“When you came downstairs, (Jackson) had Chad on the ground and was pounding him, punching him,” said La Liberte, adding Jackson then got up and started hitting Alphonse with a chair. “You were yelling at (Jackson), ‘stop, you’re going to hurt him, you’re going to kill him.’” Foureyes agreed. “You were concerned Waylon was going to kill Chad,” said La Liberte.

“I knew he could hurt him,” said Foureyes.

“You thought Waylon could kill him,” La Liberte repeated. “No,” said Foureyes. La Liberte referred to a statement Foureyes gave to police, in which she said, “I didn’t want (Jackson) to end up killing (Alphonse).”

“Someone can get hurt by a chair. I know that,” Foureyes said in court.

La Liberte suggested the stabbing was a reaction to Jackson beating up Alphonse. Foureyes agreed. La Liberte pointed out a black knife on the kitchen counter in a photo of the scene, which Foureyes confirmed was Jackson’s knife.

She added it was not usually kept there.

“I think Waylon was showing the boys what kind of knife he had,” she said.

La Liberte suggested Jackson was walking toward the knife before he was stabbed.

Foureyes disagreed, saying Jackson was coming toward her and the baby.

“His eyes were looking at me,” she said. “If he was going to grab the knife, why would he look at me and my daughter?”

Jackson did not make it as far as the knife or Foureyes before he was fatally stabbed.

The trial continues.