Closing submissions wrap-up in fatal Nanaimo waterfront stabbing trial

Normally busy Maffeo Sutton Park was closed for several hours on Sept. 6, 2022, following the stabbing death of Fred Parsons. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

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Closing Arguments – Crown counsel
Crown prosecutor Nick Barber walked the 12-member jury through the events of the night again using area video surveillance footage from the night of the incident to prove Bell and Harrison were at the park the night of the attack.

While no video of the actual attack which led to the death of Parsons exists, jurors were provided with surveillance footage of the surrounding area, showing the accused entering the area prior to the attack and leaving shortly after.

Barber said they believe Harrison started the onslaught on Parsons and that Bell finished it.

“Regardless of who did what, they’re both responsible for the death of Mr. Parsons. Once the assault with the weapon began, based on the facts that you have before you, the results of serious bodily injury or death was completely foreseeable. These two young men were amped-up and engaging in a violent assault on vulnerable individuals in a city playground, who were simply trying to enjoy themselves and be left alone. If you start an assault on other people, then you are responsible for the outcome.”

Using timestamps, Barber demonstrated how the two suspects and a third young female were seen fleeing the Maffeo Sutton Park playground area moments after Parsons was stabbed, with both men and a third underaged male arrested that night.

Barber said manslaughter is a crime of consequences, and the accused did not need to intend for Parsons to die to be found guilty of manslaughter.

“It’s the assault that matters. When Mr. Bell and Mr. Harrison participated in this attack, they engaged in an unlawful act where serious harm to the person they were attacking was completely foreseeable, and as a result, they both bare legal responsibility for Mr. Parsons’ death at their hands.”

Barber also mentioned out of the group of five or six people which included Bell and Harrison, they were the only two of the group to “flee” the scene once police began to arrive, who were already called by a security guard who was being harassed, where a responding officer then found Parsons suffering from a stab wound.

Barber reminded the jury they only need to agree on a verdict, they do not need to agree on every single piece of evidence presented.

Closing Arguments- Aiden Bell
Meanwhile, defence attorney for Bell, Gloria Ng, spoke about how descriptions of the suspects from eye-witnesses at the scene didn’t align with what each suspect was being accused of.

During witness testimony from Parsons’ girlfriend and another friend Eltjo Schaeffer, described being hit with bear spray making it difficult for Schaeffer to see, while his girlfriend managed to avoid getting sprayed as she was bent over tending to Parsons’ dog.

The attacking group was described by the witnesses as comprised “of a small male accompanied by a girl holding his hand, and a tall, thin boy.”

Bell is 6’1″ and Harrison is 5’6″, while the third male arrested the night of the incident, a 17-year-old boy, was described as shorter than Harrison.

During the attack, Parsons’ girlfriend said she saw “the small boy lunge at Fred” and then she “heard the tall kid run towards them, as in Fred and the short kid.”

“Importantly, the description of the tall boy does not match what Aiden was wearing that night,” said Ng. “The shorter boy Ms.******* described to police, that description, while she was administering first aid to Mr. Parsons… And the description of the male, the short boy who lunged at Mr. Parsons, what does she say? She said, ‘medium height, medium build, dark curly hair, wearing a black hoodie and that his skin tone, was someone who is darker than someone of First Nations, but lighter than that of an African American person.'”

Ng went on to say that at no point did Parsons’ girlfriend say she saw the taller boy, Bell, “physically interact with Mr. Parsons.”

Ng said there is no way to confirm how exactly Parsons’ blood ended up on multiple parts of her client’s jacket, saying it could have transferred onto the jacket another way, and then spread from there after the jacket was discovered tucked down Bell’s pantleg when he was arrested.

“The mere presence of blood on Aiden’s (Bell’s) jacket is not enough to establish that he stabbed Mr. Parsons,” said Ng.

During his arrest, Bell reportedly began banging his head on the ground and repeated the word ‘stupid’ over and over again, hard enough to leave a mark on his forehead in his arrest photos.

While the Crown inferred the action implied Bell “knows that he’s been caught”, Ng said Bell was referring to him being arrested for running from the cops on the evening before his 19th birthday.

Aiden Bell seen entering the Nanaimo courthouse during the first day of his trial on July 22. Harrison has been in custody since the incident. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

Closing Arguments-Mark Jayden Harrison
Defence attorney Bobby Movassaghi said while it’s clear Harrison was there that night, there is no “direct evidence….as to what happened in the park”, as all the information on the stabbing came from eyewitness accounts from Parsons’ girlfriend and Schaeffer.

Movassaghi said despite their descriptions of the suspects that night, neither witness identified Harrison as a suspect when they were presented with multiple photos supplied by police.

A key Crown witness to the fatal stabbing failed to show up in court to testify as scheduled and has yet to be located.

While Movassaghi acknowledged Harrison, whom he refers to by his middle name Jayden, was “not acting the way he should earlier that night” during his interaction with a security guard, who made the initial 911 call.

“That does not translate with him being at Maffeo Sutton Park… applying bear spray, or stabbing Mr. Parsons. There’s no evidence that at any point in time that night, that Jayden even pulled out a knife or pulled out the bear spray.”

Earlier in the week, court heard from witness Kiana Marcoux, who said Harrison was carrying bear spray during an altercation with a security guard at the parkade at the end of Wharf St. minutes prior to the fatal Maffeo Sutton Park incident.

“Unfortunately, Ms. Marcoux is a liar,” said Movassaghi. “She lied to you, and then when she was caught lying to you, she admitted she had lied to police. You can see from the video, at no time does Jayden pull out a knife, or pull out bear spray.”

On the witness stand, Marcoux said someone in the group was waving a knife around, but she couldn’t recall who.

However, in a statement to police on scene, Marcoux said she didn’t see any other weapons beyond bear spray in the parade.

Fred Parsons was fatally stabbed at the Maffeo Sutton Park playground late on the evening of Sept. 5, 2022. (Submitted photo)

Incident and fallout
At the time of Parsons’ death, Nanaimo RCMP stated a small group of people were approached by another group of young people when a confrontation broke out late in the evening at Maffeo Sutton Park.

Bear spray was used on Parsons’ group.

He was then stabbed, later dying of his injuries at the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital.

Harrison was originally charged with second-degree murder, while Bell was charged with a pair of weapons offences. The charges were eventually adjusted to manslaughter for both.

The charges were changed in November 2022 after the B.C. Prosecution Service stated it received additional information as the police investigation continued.

Bell, who’s from the Parksville area, was initially granted bail, having no prior criminal record and was allowed to live under house arrest.

The first day of the manslaughter trial was on July 22 in B.C. Supreme Court in Nanaimo, where jurors were shown video surveillance footage of the night in question.

Day two of the trial featured an RCMP forensic analyst who tested multiple items for evidence of blood, including the suspect’s clothing, and items found at the crime scene.

On Tuesday, July 30 court heard from the girlfriend of Parsons who described in detail the night of the attack, saying how her group of friends just wanted to play on the playground when they were confronted by three people, including Bell and Harrison before the fatal attack.

The jury will return on Tuesday, Aug. 6 where it’s expected formal deliberations will commence after receiving instructions from veteran justice Robin Baird.

Whatever the jury decides they will have to reach a unanimous ruling.

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jordan@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @JordanDHeyNow

by Jordan Davidson

Closing submissions wrap-up in fatal Nanaimo waterfront stabbing trial

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