Accused in fatal prom night stabbing joked next day he'd been a 'bon garçon'

A young man accused of fatally stabbing another teen during a prom night fight outside a downtown Ottawa hotel texted his prom date the next morning when asked about the fight and said he had been a "bon garçon."

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Devontay Hackett, now 21, is on trial for second-degree murder in the June 2014 death of 18-year-old Brandon Volpi.

Crown and defence lawyers both agree the two young men could be seen fighting in cell phone video taken by a hotel guest. But the two sides remain at odds as to whether it was Hackett who stabbed Volpi in the chest and throat.

Sarah Tahan, 20, was Hackett's prom date that night. She told an Ottawa courtroom on Friday that while she'd gone to the prom with Hackett, the two were not a couple.

She said students in Hackett's room at Les Suites Hotel were drinking, but that she didn't see him drinking — although she noted he had two 26 oz. bottles of liquor.

'I hope you stayed out of trouble,' date texts

Tahan told the court she left after the prom but texted him the next morning to thank him and ask if he could send any pictures.

He texted back to say he'd send them when he had a Wi-Fi connection, she said.

Later that morning, Tahan heard from friends about the fight at the hotel and texted Hackett again, writing: "I heard s--- went down last night I hope you stayed out of trouble."

Hackett wrote back "ahah and always out of trouble bon garçon O:)".  (Bon garçon means good boy in French.) Tahan described the symbol at the end of the text as an angel with a halo.

Three days after the text exchange, Ottawa police issued an arrest warrant for Hackett.

Prom date testifies 'no tension' before fight

Under cross-examination, Tahan told defence lawyers she saw no sign of tensions or problems between Hackett and anyone else, including students from other schools.

Hackett had attended St. Pius X High School while Volpi was a student at St. Patrick's High School. Students from both schools, as well as St. Joseph High School, were at the after-prom party.

The Crown alleges Volpi came to the aid of a schoolmate who said Hackett was threatening him.

Tahan also told defence lawyer Joseph Addelman that she saw Hackett change into white shorts and a T-shirt on the night of the prom. She said she didn't see a knife on him then, nor did he tell her he had one.

Tahan smiled at Hackett as she passed him following her cross-examination.

No knife at scene, court hears

Earlier on Friday, the court heard that police forensic investigators failed to turn up any knife or weapon at the scene.

Speaking at Hackett's trial at Superior Court for the second day, forensic identification officer Sgt. Jim Killeen went into more detail about the physical evidence found at the scene.

Volpi died after he was stabbed multiple times, but the fatal blow was a 10-centimetre-deep penetrating stab wound through his rib cage and into his heart.

However Killeen said Friday police never found a knife at the scene; nor did they find a weapon at any of the other locations they searched, including the Arts Court parking lot where a blood-stained white T-shirt was found.

Blood matched victim, accused

DNA analysis showed the blood of both the victim and the accused on the T-shirt, Killeen said.

On Thursday Killeen testified investigators found blood on the pavement near the scene of the fight, as well as a few drops in an alley between Les Suites Hotel and the neighbouring Novotel. More blood was found both inside and outside an SUV in an alleyway between the two hotels.

Killeen said Friday the blood on the exterior of the SUV in the alleyway was Hackett's, and inside the vehicle traces of both Hackett's and Volpi's blood were found, he said.

Court had earlier viewed security footage of a young man in a white shirt walking into the alley and into the vehicle before getting out again. Hackett was also identified in separate cellphone videos of the fight.

Hackett's watch was seized when he was arrested in July, and Killeen said Friday that police found microscopic traces of Volpi's blood on it.

Bottles, butts, gum not examined

Defence lawyer Joseph Addelman asked Killeen during cross-examination whether blood stains found north of the hotel, on the corner Rideau and Dalhousie streets, were also tested for DNA.

Killeen said it had not. When Addelman asked why, Killeen replied that police investigators had already determined the likely suspect had headed south, not north.

Killeen also told the defence that police didn't send for DNA analysis of beer bottles, chewed gum and cigarettes found at the scene of the fight.