The man accused of killing a woman in her Surrey home two years ago pleaded not guilty in court on Monday.
Adam Mann, 42, is on trial for second-degree murder in the June 16, 2024 death of Tori Dunn.
Dunn was critically injured during an apparent random attack in her Port Kells home and died in hospital.
In its opening statement, the Crown said Dunn was stabbed inside her home after returning home from a birthday dinner with her boyfriend.
They were both on the couch and Dunn fell asleep.
Sometime before 9:45 p.m., an intruder entered and stabbed Dunn a few times, the Crown said, including in the abdomen.
The first witness on the stand was Trafford Wace, Dunn’s boyfriend.
The two lived together at the home in Surrey, which also housed two other tenants in units below where they lived.
On June 16, 2024, Wace said he and Dunn came home between 8:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. after having his birthday dinner at his grandmother’s house.
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He said they both sat down on the couch, cuddled and watched TV before Dunn fell asleep on his shoulder.
Wace said he got up to use the bathroom and left Dunn on the couch with her eyes closed and the TV on.
He said he came running when he heard Dunn screaming louder than he had ever heard before.
“I see a man, like, up against the wall with Tori in front of him,” Wace said. “I said, ‘Who the f*** are you?”
“He turned and said, ‘Oh shit’”
Wace said the man was wearing a grey sweatshirt, toque and sweatpants, and had stubble on his face.
He said he saw something shiny in his hand and when he asked Dunn what happened, she told him, “he f***ing stabbed me.”
He said he then grabbed a knife, but the man fled and that’s when Wace called 911.
He was tending to Dunn, he added, but she was telling him she thought she was dying.
As he was on the phone with 911, Dunn became unconscious, Wace added.
He said Dunn’s main wound was lower on her right abdomen.
He confirmed the intruder was a stranger to him and had never seen the accused before that day.
One of the first to respond to the 911 call was Surrey Police Service Const. Jay Mander.
He testified he and another member moved Dunn from the living room floor to the grass outside, because it was unclear if the suspect was still inside.
Mander told the court the victim had a “two-inch-long stab wound to her abdomen” and was conscious and flailing before being loaded into an ambulance.
She died shortly afterwards in hospital. While on scene, Mander testified he was advised it was a homicide.
Mann was found within half an hour and within one kilometre of Dunn’s home. Justice David Layton noted to the jury that Mann is of Black and Indigenous heritage.
Dunn’s family and supporters packed the courtroom on Monday for the first day of Mann’s trial, filling half the room, but her father declined to speak outside afterwards.
The Crown will be calling several witnesses, including police officers and a forensic pathologist in the jury trial, which is expected to last three weeks.
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