Nathan Gervais has been found guilty of first-degree murder in the swarming and stabbing death of Lukas Strasser-Hird over five years ago.
Gervais, 24, was accused of killing 18-year-old Strasser-Hird in an alley outside the former Vinyl Nightclub in November 2013.
Strasser-Hird was swarmed, beaten and stabbed outside the club and later died from his injuries in hospital.
Gervais failed to show up for his original trial in 2016. He was arrested in Vietnam in November 2017 and returned to Canada to face the charge. Two men were later charged with helping him flee the country.
During the trial, the Crown told the court that two altercations occurred on the evening of November 23rd; one in front of the nightclub and the second behind the club.
The prosecutor said Gervais left the club to get a knife and then stabbed Strasser-Hird three times, intending to kill him.
CCTV footage from outside the club was examined by Calgary police and was shown to the court.
The defence did not present any evidence at the trial and argued that there was no proof that the murder was planned. Gervais pleaded not guilty to the charge and did not testify in his own defence.
Closing arguments in the case were presented by the Crown and defence on April 5, 2019.
On Wednesday, Justice Tilleman found Gervais guilty of first-degree murder and Crown prosecutor Ken McCaffrey said the judge gave careful consideration to all the issues before making a decision.
“Under the criminal code, murder can be first-degree murder if it’s planned and deliberate or if it’s done in the context of a sexual assault or if it’s done in the context of forcible confinement and so essentially what the judge held was that before he was murdered, Mr. Gervais was partaking in a forcible confinement of Lukas so that he couldn’t escape anywhere and as such that made it first-degree murder,” said McCaffrey. “Obviously, we’re very pleased with the court’s decision. He wrote a very lengthy judgment, I haven’t had an opportunity to read it yet but what we heard in court was a summary but it is obvious to me that he gave careful consideration to all the issues and obviously, we’re pleased with the result.”
Gervais smirked and smiled during the proceedings and McCaffery said hopefully he will learn from his experience.
“Obviously, Mr. Gervais is an immature person and hopefully his experience behind bars he’ll maybe mature and learn how to behave properly,” he said. “It has been a very long road and it may be the end of this for me but there’s still an appeals process that this accused may go through and the other people are still, the other people that were convicted are still before the appeals court so hopefully this nightmare will end for this family soon.”
Lukas’ father Dale was in court and said Gervais was smiling at him and giving him the thumbs up.
"Hopefully they’re going to get all what they deserve eventually, especially with Nathan, like he admitted stabbing, he fled the country, laughing and joking in the courtroom there to me like, looking at me and giving me the thumbs up, it’s really good that he’s going to be going away for a long time,” said Dale. “Well I laughed at him, I smiled at him and gave him the thumbs up too because he’s going away for a long time.”
Dale said that it was a hard day for him but a good day for Lukas.
“We were really pleased that the judge was watching, he watched that video and he saw Nathan stalking Lukas and had his hand in his pocket and holding the knife and running around the back to get him and he knew exactly what he was doing, that’s a very, very thorough judge,” he said. “I haven’t really even processed it yet, I’m still kind of shaken a bit and it’s been a hard time so. But this is really good, I feel really good inside and I’m happy about this decision, very happy and I’m sure his mother is too. She’s demolished and I’m sure she’s very, very happy right now and im really glad to see that and think that.”
This Thursday would have been Lukas Strasser-Hird’s 24th birthday.
“It’s his 24th birthday and it’s just a day every parent would remember their child’s birthday and so we’re just going to go out to his grave site and bring some of his favourite things, maybe just a bottle of root beer and sing happy birthday and try to remember some good things because today was a good day for Lukas,” said Dale.
Dale says he is grateful for the support from police and the Crown during the investigation and trial.
“We can’t be more thankful to the police and the detectives and the Crown and all the investigators that didn’t give up on my son. It’s really a heart-felt thank you to the investigators and the Crown, especially the lead investigator, she's an incredible officer.”
The conviction carries an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.
The case will be back in court on May 24 for a sentencing hearing and victim impact statements.
(With files from Ina Sidhu)