NEW WESTMINSTER - Spencer O'Soup says he feels no ill will toward the woman accused of murdering his little brother.
Beatrice Thomas, 38, is being tried for second-degree murder in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster, accused of stabbing her common-law husband Quannah O'Soup, 37, to death in North Delta on July 3, 2011.
"I'm not here to have pitchforks and fire," Spencer O'Soup told the Now outside court Tuesday. "For me, it's about healing.
"I don't feel hatred or anything like that," he said. "I feel a lot of compassion. I feel really sorry for her."
O'Soup has not been called as a witness but plans to watch the trial, set for three weeks, in the hope he'll achieve some level of closure over his brother's death. "I was devastated when I heard," he recalled.
"It's the worst news ever."
He said his brother and Thomas met in Edmonton and had been together for about a year. She followed him to the coast, he said. "She made her way here with her kids."
They rented a tiny half-duplex at 11540 80th Ave. in North Delta, across the street from the entrance to McCloskey elementary school.
"Their relationship was toxic," Spencer said. "It was desperation. The relationship was up and down."
He said his younger brother had five children of his own in Edmonton. The eldest is 22, and the youngest are twins, age 10.
"He was a family man," Spencer said. "My brother was trying to get away, end the relationship and reunite with his kids."
Crown prosecutor Jennifer Lopes opened the Crown's case Tuesday, with Justice Trevor Armstrong presiding.
Thomas, Quannah O'Soup, two guests and Thomas's children, aged 10 and 15 at the time, were inside the house when O'Soup was stabbed once in the chest, in the living room, shortly after midnight.
The children did not see the stabbing, as they were in their bedroom at the time. Nor did the couple's friends, a man and woman who were in the kitchen.
"The Crown will establish the necessary intent for murder by a constellation of circumstantial evidence," Lopes told the court. This, she said, is based on statements the accused made, her actions after the stabbing and the testimony of the two guests.
Lopes said Thomas, O'Soup and one of their guests had been smoking crack cocaine that night.
The prosecutor said Thomas told her female friend she was "unhappy" with O'Soup before she followed him into the living room.
The guests couldn't see what was happening in that room, Lopes said, but they overheard Thomas confronting
O'Soup, "and then there were noises. A crash." The guests came into the room, and found O'Soup on the floor, Lopes said. A single stab wound had punctured his lung and heart. O'Soup died at the scene.
The Crown's first witness Tuesday was Sgt. David Winderg, who served with Delta Police for 30 years before joining the Richmond RCMP's forensic section.
Winderg said he arrived at the house at 2:15 a.m. to find the couple's side surrounded by yellow police tape and O'Soup's shirtless body lying on the floor, face up. He took some photos.
He testified that he later took photos of Thomas, at police headquarters. The following day, police returned to the house to look for the knife. A firefighter brought a ladder, to check the roof.
They didn't find a knife outside, he said, but seized six from inside the tiny house, two of which were slightly bent.
Winderg told the court he didn't notice any injuries on Thomas.
"Were you looking for injuries?" defence lawyer Victoria Desroches asked him, under cross-examination.
"Always," Winderg replied. He said he looked for injuries on the accused's hands, not beneath her clothing. Desroches said Thomas had been wearing a jacket covering her from her neck to her knuckles. Winderg said he looked at her hands, and her legs from below her knees to her ankles.
"That's it?" Desroches asked.
"That's it," the officer replied.
The trial continues.
tzytaruk@thenownewspaper.com