Killing closer to murder than to mishap, argues Crown

Sentencing hearing begins for man found guilty of manslaughter in 2016 death of friend during fight

A Kelowna man who stabbed his friend to death in 2016 nearly committed murder by bringing a knife to a chair fight, Crown counsel said in court Tuesday.

Chad Alphonse was charged with second-degree murder in the death of Waylon Jackson in Jackson’s Gerstmar Road home in Rutland.

In March, a jury found Alphonse guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter.

“They clearly rejected self-defence and they clearly accepted that Mr. Alphonse did not have the intention to cause death,” Justice Catherine Murray said in court Tuesday during the first day of a two-day sentencing hearing in Kelowna. “I think it’s likely that what they found was that Mr. Alphonse was too drunk to form the intention to kill.”

Crown prosecutor David Grabavac described the offence as horrible, devastating, life-altering and tragic.

“Manslaughter has been described from near-accident to near-murder,” he said. “Crown would submit in this case, this was a near-murder manslaughter.”

On March 11, 2016, several people, including Alphonse, were at Jackson’s house to decorate for a baby shower for Naomi Foureyes and Jackson’s youngest child.

“Saturday, March 12, 2016, was supposed to be a day of happiness for Mr. Jackson, for Naomi Foureyes, for all involved,” said Grabavac.

Instead of getting ready for the next day’s party, there was a lot of drinking that night, he said.

Jackson and Foureyes had gone upstairs to get ready for bed, while Alphonse and Foureyes’ sister were downstairs disagreeing about how to get home, the court heard.

Foureyes heard a slap sound from downstairs and sent Jackson down to investigate. Alphonse and Jackson then got into a physical fight. Jackson hit Alphonse in the head with a chair multiple times, then dropped the chair and turned his back on Alphonse, Grabavac said.

“Mr. Alphonse then inflicted a number of wounds to Mr. Jackson with a red and blue folding knife.”

A pathologist located a slash wound on Jackson’s left shoulder and two stab wounds under his left arm.

The lower stab wound entered Jackson’s chest cavity and went into his heart. The cause of death was determined to be blood loss. “It was Alphonse that introduced a knife to the fight,” said Grabavac. “Using a knife in a fight is much different than using chairs.”

Crown counsel received 28 victim-impact statements from family and friends of Jackson, which they read aloud in court Tuesday.

“The day I lost Waylon is a day I will never forget,” Jackson’s father, Percy Jackson, wrote. “For two years now, I’ve suffered sleepless nights.”

In the letter, Percy Jackson said he would never forgive Alphonse.

“You should have left, Chad; instead, you took Waylon’s life. You’ve turned our lives upside down.”

Alphonse remains out on bail awaiting sentencing, which is expected to happen today.