NEW WESTMINSTER - Beatrice Thomas thrice refused to call 911 before finally calling for help as her common-law husband Quannah O'Soup lay stabbed and dying on the couple's living room floor, two Crown witnesses have testified.
Thomas, 38, is being tried for second-degree murder in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster.
O'Soup, 37, was stabbed on July 3rd, 2011, inside a tiny half-duplex the couple rented in North Delta, across from McCloskey elementary school
Crown witnesses Patricia Thiessen and Timothy Senft lived with them for a while.
"Shoplifting was how they supplemented their income," Thiessen, 52, told the court. "Quannah said we had to help shoplift to pay our way."
Senft, 45, told the court he believed Thomas and O'Soup cared about each other "but there was a little bit of animosity going on" fueled by jealousy from both sides.
The day of the stabbing began with the four planning to "boost," or steal, some video games at a variety of stores in Vancouver, he said.
Thiessen testified that Thomas and O'Soup "didn't get along when they were using" crack cocaine.
"They were always arguing or bickering," she said. "There seemed to be a power struggle."
"They were behind on the rent, and Quannah didn't contribute," Thiessen said. "She (Thomas) was tired of the drinking, the drugging, the stealing" and his "bossing her around."
Thiessen, O'Soup and Thomas were smoking crack the night O'Soup died.
She said Thomas rented the house but O'Soup "wanted to be the boss, control everything. It seemed to me she wasn't very happy with it."
Thomas's daughters, age 10 and 15, were in their bedroom that night and didn't witness the violence.
Thiessen said O'Soup was in the bedroom, smoking crack, and she and Thomas were in the bathroom doing the same, when Thomas pulled out a pipe from under the sink and began smacking it against her hand.
"She said if anything happens, this is self defence," Thiessen testified. "She said if anything happens, to take care of the girls."
The Crown witness said O'Soup was "tweaking," and wouldn't share his drugs with Thomas.
"He was so high, his eyes were huge. He couldn't talk."
She said she retreated to the kitchen, where Senft was drinking beer, and told him "These guys are f---ed, I don't want to be around."
Thiessen said she and Tim decided to "stay out of it," and that Thomas told them to stay in the kitchen "in case something happens."
O'Soup came down the hall, went into the living room and began fiddling with the stereo dial, Thiessen said, and Thomas went in after him, yelling "What the f--- are you doing?"
Senft told the court he and Patricia where in the kitchen.
"We heard a loud bang, and then another bang, and then a thump."
Thiessen said she went into the living room.
O'Soup was on the floor, she said, and Thomas was going through his pockets. She said Thomas told her to check his socks and shoes.
"She didn't say why," Thiessen said, adding she figured "I was looking for dope, or money."
Senft then entered the room.
He said Thomas pulled up O'Soup's shirt. "It looked like puncture wounds in his chest," he said. "I believe it was three or four.
"I asked Beatrice, 'What the f--- did you do? And her response was, 'He was coming at me.'"
"I asked Beatrice to call 911, and she refused. I think she said 'No, I can't.'"
"I asked her (Thomas) to call 911, more forcefully," he said, and then asked her again. He said she still refused, but eventually she called.
Thiessen also testified that Thomas refused three times to call 911 but finally did so when Senft hollered at her to do it.
Thiessen said Thomas told the 911 operator that "some guy" fell on the floor, but she couldn't provide her own address. She said Senft took over the call, and when police arrived they separated everyone.
Thiessen told the court she was standing out on the lawn, about 20 or 30 feet apart from Thomas, when Thomas put her forefinger to her lips "and motioned for me to be quiet."
The trial continues.
tzytaruk@thenownewspaper.com