Witness shares account of fatal stabbing outside Red Deer pub

Cooper testified he was being held at knifepoint by another man while the attack was happening.

“He told me if I wanted to do anything with it I would get stabbed too,” Cooper said.

Cooper didn’t know how many times Beach was stabbed but said he saw a knife with a three or four-inch blade in Sawyer’s hand. Georgopolous also made several stabbing motions toward Beach’s chest, but Cooper did not see whether he was actually holding a weapon.

After realizing Beach had been stabbed, Cooper managed to break free and run inside the pub to call for help. He then rushed back outside to catch the license plate numbers of two vehicles fleeing the scene with Beach’s attackers inside.

Cooper went back inside the pub to find Beach lying on the floor, bleeding from his ears, nose, mouth and a cut above his eye.

Following Cooper’s testimony, Crown prosecutor Ed Ring showed him video footage recorded that night by a security camera at the pub’s front entrance.

The footage showed Beach, his girlfriend and Cooper go outside together at 8:53 p.m. The fight and stabbing took place a few seconds later, away from the front doors and out of view of the camera.

Cooper, who is 34, admitted some of what he saw on the video was different from what he recalled from that night.

“There are some points that are different,” he told court.

Cooper will face cross-examination Friday by defence lawyer Chris Archer morning. Thursday will see lawyers make submissions to Justice J.W. (Bill) Hopkins without the jury present.

by Troy Gillard (Twitter: @Troy_Gillard)

Witness shares account of fatal stabbing outside Red Deer pub

What's Trending