Victim had a ‘hole in her belly,’ witness says

WARNING: This story contains graphic content.

The owner of a Vancouver print shop said Monday that he saw a pregnant woman with a “hole in her belly” and shortly afterward the man accused in the shooting incident holding a gun.

Jeff Grayston, the operator of East Van Graphics, was testifying at the trial of Carleton Stevens, who has pleaded not guilty to the May 2018 attempted murder of the woman, who cannot be identified due to a publication ban.

He told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Duncan that on the morning of the shooting he was awoken in his suite in the print shop on Industrial Avenue by a loud noise and a commotion downstairs. When he got up and went to investigate, he says he saw the six-month pregnant shooting victim, who lost her unborn child after being taken to hospital.

“I saw her lying on the floor, moaning, and there was a hole in her belly and oddly it wasn’t bleeding,” Grayston told the judge.

“You were aware that she was pregnant,” said Crown counsel Hank Reiner.

“Yeah,” Grayston replied. The Crown witness said that at the time of the shooting the victim had been staying at the shop for about a week with a shop employee named Taj Lovett.

Grayston said that after he saw the victim on the floor, he had no conversation with her before seeing Stevens at the mezzanine loft where the victim had been sleeping.

He said he hadn’t seen Stevens for some time and suspected that he might have gotten into the building through the skylight since it was open and it was summertime.

Grayston said that Stevens came downstairs and was carrying a gun with him, but he was not sure what type of firearm it was. Lovett went running by him naked and fled the building, he told the judge.

When Stevens came downstairs he got into a confrontation with Dollie Middleton, another employee who was sleeping at the print shop, said Grayston. He said he heard Middleton tell Stevens, “You shot her,” as the two engaged in fisticuffs, he said.

During cross-examination, defence lawyer Chandra Corriveau suggested that Grayston had not seen her client holding a gun in the print shop — a suggestion denied by the Crown witness.