A 33-year-old man accused of fatally stabbing his girlfriend at a Burnaby mall two years ago ran around Metrotown for about 45 minutes after the stabbing, entering multiple apartments and asking strangers for rides, according to information presented in court this week.
Everton Javaun Downey is on trial in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver for second-degree murder in the death of 25-year-old Melissa Blimkie on Dec. 19, 2021.
Downey has admitted to stabbing Blimkie in a stairwell at the Metropolis at Metrotown mall at 11:38 a.m. that day but has entered a not-guilty plea to the charge of second degree murder.
During the first two days of the judge-alone trial Tuesday and Wednesday, Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes heard from four civilians who interacted with Downey at different locations in Metrotown before he was arrested at 12:30 p.m. on Dec. 19, 2021.
'Very afraid'
The first person to encounter Downey after the stabbing was Na Zhao, who was sitting in her minivan in the Metrotown Walmart parking lot.
In her testimony through a Mandarin interpreter Tuesday, she told the court a man opened her driver's side door, saying 'Help! Help!'
When she tried to close the door, Zhao said the man showed her a gun in his pocket, and she then followed his directions because she was 'very afraid.'
(Under cross examination, Zhao said she was "not sure" the black object she saw in the man's pocket was a gun.)
At some point, the man jumped into the passenger seat and, speaking quickly and "urgently," told her to drive him "downtown."
He also told her to drive him to the hospital, according to Zhao.
When the van wouldn't start, however, he jumped out and ran away towards the SkyTrain, she said.
As he ran, she said he flipped up the hood of his jacket.
After Zhao got home, she realized the man had left a hat in her van.
She returned to Metrotown later that afternoon and turned the hat over to police.
'Shocked'
Velvet Flores and her mother, Jackeline Comelli and her mother's partner, Henry Vivas, encountered Downey outside an apartment building at 6508 Silver Ave.
They were discussing Christmas plans when a man approached them and asked if they spoke Spanish.
"We said yes, and then he proceeded to talk in English from there on," Flores told the court Wednesday.
The man told them someone was trying to kill him and he needed shelter for 20 minutes, she said.
"He seemed frantic; he seemed scared," she said.
Flores said she saw a bloody bandage on the man's right hand.
They offered the man a ride, and he asked them to take him to Vancouver, according to Flores.
After driving him a short way, however, they said they couldn't take him all the way, and he jumped out when they were stopped at a red light at Willingdon Avenue and Maywood Street, running south on Willingdon, according to Flores.
Comelli, who took the stand after her daughter, said the man "seemed to be running away from someone or something."
'Call the police'
The last civilian to interact with Downey before his arrest was Sara Beatovic, who also took the stand Wednesday.
She told the court she was walking her dog with her grandmother on Wilson Avenue near Beresford Street when a man ran from some bushes and jogged toward them.
"He said, 'Please call the police! Please call the police! Someone drugged me and I hurt someone,'" Beatovic said. "He just kept repeating that."
Beatovic said the man was "on edge," sobbing and pacing.
"I was very uncomfortable, especially when he said he'd hurt someone," she said.
Beatovic said she called 911 about a minute after the man approached, and a recording of the call was played in court.
After an interaction that lasted less than 10 minutes, the man walked away, and Beatovic said she saw police arrest him on Beresford.
Trial continues
The Crown plans to call four more civilian witnesses who interacted with Downey after the stabbing, including several who encountered him inside their homes.
According to admissions of fact presented at the beginning of the trial, Downey entered three different Metrotown apartments before his arrest.
Two police officers and a pathologist are also expected to testify this week.
The main issue in the trial, according to the Crown, will be Downey’s mental state at the time he stabbed Blimkie and whether he was suffering from a mental disorder rendering him not criminally responsible or whether he had the criminal intent to commit murder.
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