A 21-year-old man has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the killing of Prabhjot Singh Katri, who was stabbed to death outside an apartment building in Truro, N.S., in 2021.
Katri, a 23-year-old who moved from India to Nova Scotia in 2017, had been working two jobs to support his mother back home, a family member told Global News shortly after the stabbing.
His supervisor at Layton’s Taxi, where he started working shortly before his death, said at the time that he was a “sweetheart” and described him as kind and gentle.
Cameron James Prosper of Pictou Landing First Nation had been charged with second-degree murder in Katri’s death, but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter during a court appearance on Dec. 19, 2022.
Prosper stabbed Katri in the neck shortly after 2 a.m. on Sept. 5, 2021, as the victim was walking to his car after leaving a friend’s apartment at 494 Robie St. in Truro.
According to the core facts of the case read aloud by Crown prosecutor Thomas Kayter, Prosper was already in the parking lot when Katri left the apartment.
Prosper had been drinking shirtless outside the apartment building with 22-year-old Dylan Robert MacDonald of Valley, N.S.
Katri was stabbed with a folding hunting knife, but it was never recovered.
After being stabbed, Katri ran back to his friend’s apartment, covered in blood, where he asked his friends to call the police.
The first officer who responded to the scene found Katri “lying in a large pool of blood,” with two males holding a cloth to his neck in an attempt to stem the bleeding.
Katri was rushed to hospital, but was pronounced dead shortly after 3 a.m. following a “sustained and intensive attempt” to save him, Kayter said.
The cause of death was blood loss from the injuries he sustained.
Motive unknown
The prosecutor said there is no evidence Prosper and Katri knew each other before the stabbing. There is also no evidence that the crime was motivated by hate or racism, said Kayter.
“The motive remains unknown, and the evidence known to the Crown indicates that the violence was unprovoked, spontaneous and gratuitous insofar that Prabhjot Singh Katri did nothing to incite or provoke Cameron Prosper to violence,” he said.
He said Katri’s friends reported seeing a white Honda Civic fleeing the scene after the stabbing. They recognized the car as it had been there before, with its occupants sometimes visiting a person who lived in the building.
Police on patrol found the suspect vehicle around 3:44 a.m. in Truro Heights, but lost it in an ensuing police chase.
Kayter said MacDonald was driving the vehicle while being pursued by police, at speeds of nearly 200 km/h.
Cellphone video recorded part of the high-speed chase – including the speedometer – and also showed MacDonald and Prosper in the vehicle.
“Mr. Prosper can be heard in those videos narrating aspects of the events,” the prosecutor said.
That same morning, shortly after 5 a.m., Kayter said MacDonald attempted to return to the crime scene to retrieve a bag from the apartment they were visiting.
When officers told him to stop, Kayter said MacDonald jumped the fence and fled on foot. At 5:20 a.m., he was detained at gunpoint for further investigation.
MacDonald had a knife, a cellphone and a pack of cigarettes. There appeared to be blood on the outside of the cigarette package, Kayter said.
Also around 5:20 a.m., officers found a white Honda Civic parked in a driveway on Burris Drive in Valley, about a 10-minute drive from Truro. The vehicle was registered in MacDonald’s name.
According to Kayter, MacDonald told police that he and Prosper had been hanging out and drinking at Marcus Denny’s apartment prior to the stabbing. Denny lived in the same building Katri was visiting.
MacDonald was charged with being an accessory to murder after the fact, driving to evade police, two counts of dangerous driving and obstruction of justice. He is scheduled to appear in Truro Supreme Court on Feb. 21 to set trial dates.
Denny was also charged with accessory to murder after the fact, but the Crown withdrew the charge due to the low prospect of conviction.
In May 2022, Denny pleaded guilty to a related public mischief charge and was sentenced to 45 days of secure custody, which was deemed served due to time spent on remand.
‘I’m pleading guilty because I’m guilty’
During the Dec. 19 court appearance, Justice Jeffrey Hunt asked Prosper to confirm that he accepted the facts as accurate and that he understood he was giving up his right to a trial by pleading guilty.
He also asked Prosper to confirm he was pleading guilty because he was guilty, and not because he wanted to “get it over with.”
“I’m pleading guilty because I’m guilty,” Prosper replied.
A status report for Prosper’s case is scheduled for April 6, with the sentencing date scheduled for May 12.
Hunt said he has requested a Gladue report, a pre-sentencing and bail hearing report that Canadian courts can request when they’re considering the sentence for an offender of Indigenous ancestry.
Prosper’s lawyer, Malcolm Jeffcock, said his client’s biography is “complex” and he may call on a Mi’kmaw elder to testify during the sentencing.
There are also victim impact statements expected from a Sikh community representative, as well as from Katri’s family members in Canada and India.