Trial of Toronto man accused of woman’s murder hears from ex-girlfriend involved in love triangle

The former girlfriend of a man on trial for the second-degree murder of his co-worker with whom he was having an affair has testified against him.

Elizabeth Owusu-Bempah told a jury she returned to Toronto after a holiday to Ghana in late July 2017 and heard a rumour from colleagues at Progistix Solutions that her live-in boyfriend and co-worker Nicholas Johnson was having an affair with a woman who also worked at the company.

Owusu-Bempah said she was three months pregnant with Johnson’s child at the time and said the other woman’s name was “Jill,” through an interpreter.

Nicholas Johnson was charged with the second-degree murder of 31-year-old Virgil Jack. Her body found partially submerged in a creek in Derrydowns Park on August 19, 2017.

At first, Owusu-Bempah said the woman she referred to as Jill approached her in the lunch room at work and told her whatever she had been hearing about the affair was incorrect. But then Owusu-Bempah received a text message from Jill that said she said had conceived a child with Johnson.

The woman said she was told Owusu-Bempah this because Johnson had disrespected her. Owusu-Bempah testified that it did not bother her and she did not take it seriously because she was not married to Johnson. The jury already heard that Johnson believed Jack was pregnant after faking a pregnancy test.

Owusu-Bempah said the day before Jack’s body was found, Johnson picked her up between 5 and 6 at her mother’s home in Ajax and drove Owusu-Bempah and her mother back to Brampton where she and Johnson lived.

She said she noticed a wet, dirty spot on the left upper part of Johnson’s jeans. When she asked him why it was wet and dirty, he told her he had been swimming at his mother’s building. She also testified the following morning, she saw Johnson wash his car in their driveway.

The jury heard earlier that Jack was last seen at 2:35 that afternoon leaving her North York apartment.

Owusu-Bempah never looked directly at Johnson during her testimony. She testified she had the couple’s baby in March 2018.

Johnson has pleaded not guilty.