Jury trial begins in case of slain Stony Plain bouncer

A Stony Plain bar patron suckerpunched a bouncer who then fell and fatally struck his head on the pavement two years ago, a jury heard Tuesday.

Sean Kovacs-Harkins, 21, is on trial for manslaughter after 30-year-old Travis Colby died outside the Old Bar at the Stony Plain Hotel just before closing time on Sept. 28, 2013.

Witness Matthew Knobelsdorf said there was a brief altercation in the parking lot between Colby and a friend of Kovacs-Harkins, but it seemed to be over.

“Then Sean came up from behind and sucker-punched Travis,” Knobelsdorf said, adding that Colby was struck in the jaw. “It was a really big wind-up to a really big hit. As soon as Travis got hit, he froze, he went stiff as a board, and then fell. Sean fled and Travis hit the ground.”

In an opening statement, Crown prosecutor Patricia Hankinson told the jury that Colby’s head cracked against the pavement. He died days later in the Royal Alexandra Hospital.

Under cross-examination, Knobelsdorf denied that Kovacs-Harkins only struck Colby during the bouncer’s earlier altercation with his friend.

Knobelsdorf, who knew both men, said Kovacs-Harkins appeared drunk just before the fatal altercation, with alcohol on his breath and slightly slurred speech. Kovacs-Harkins wasn’t previously aggressive or angry, Knobelsdorf said, even though he’d been involved in another short dispute inside the bar.

Hankinson told the jury that six eyewitnesses will testify Kovacs-Harkins struck Colby just before he fell and hit his head.

The trial is scheduled to last nine days.