Accused linked to stabbings in witness testimony

A woman testifying in Brandon’s Court of King’s Bench on Thursday said she saw the accused stab one man and heard her admit to stabbing another one after a violent altercation in 2023.

During her Crown testimony, Jasmine Ross said Talisa Brandon, 27, was in shock when she said, “I stabbed Tristin,” while recapping multiple fights that happened in and outside a house party and onto a road in Waywayseecappo First Nation on July 5, 2023.

Brandon was charged with manslaughter and aggravated assault after she allegedly stabbed Tristin Beaulieu to death and stabbed another man in the same physical altercation.

Ross, 33, described a fight between Beaulieu and her brother, Larry Jeremiah Ross, 30, that took place outside the victim’s house. At one point, she scratched and kicked Beaulieu’s face as she tried to pry him off her brother because she was worried he was hurt, she said.

“Then my brother was unresponsive and I thought he killed my brother.”

Ross said she left the party with her young daughter, Larry and his preschool daughter before Brandon, who was dating Larry at the time, caught up to them on the road.

She said Beaulieu, another man named David Medicine and the accused were yelling back and forth as the two men walked faster toward her group.

Beaulieu had a machete and Medicine carried a golf club, Ross said.

Court heard a recording of a 911 call made by Ross, who told the dispatcher in a panicked tone that the two men were attacking her brother and she was scared someone was going to stab him.

Ross was screaming “leave my brother alone, leave him alone” on the 911 call, court heard.

Ross told Crown attorneys Melania Cannon and Nikki Boggs that she was holding her niece when Beaulieu approached her on the road with the machete. Then Larry came running over and hit him with a rake, she said.

Ross said Medicine hit her in the rib with a golf club when she stepped between him and Larry. She set down her niece, who watched the entire altercation next to her daughter.

She said she turned around and saw Beaulieu walking away.

Medicine released the golf club and put his arms up in the air signalling that he was done fighting. He started walking away too, but then Brandon walked up and stabbed him, Ross said.

In his testimony, Larry said Beaulieu’s “attitude switched” inside the house party when he knocked on the bathroom door and saw Larry and two others snorting lines of cocaine.

Beaulieu asked them, “How come the homeowner doesn’t get any?” Larry said.

Larry said he tried to leave the party shortly after, but a fight broke out between his sister and Medicine, who tried to hit her but missed and swung at Larry’s toddler.

Larry and Medicine started fighting and bumped into one of Beaulieu’s children who fell down in the living room, he said.

“That’s when Tristin got mad and then came and jumped into the fight too,” Larry said.

He and Beaulieu proceeded to fight down the hallway where Larry said he was choked and temporarily lost consciousness.

In that time, Medicine had grabbed a knife from the kitchen and Larry said he cut his finger by trying to get away from him.

“That’s the first time anyone had brought a bladed weapon into this fight, right?” defence lawyer Jonathan Richert asked, and Larry agreed.

When the fight continued outside, Larry said he “couldn’t breathe” when Beaulieu was on top of him and he lost consciousness again. He woke up within two minutes and decided to leave the party with his niece, daughter, sister and his former partner.

He said Beaulieu and Medicine continued to chase them down the road, so Brandon went and knocked on a door at a house nearby for help while he picked up a rake and met them back on the road.

“So, at this point, you’re not trying to escalate or continue the fight. You’re seeking a way to defend yourself from people chasing you, threatening to kill you,” Richert said.

“I started swinging that rake as hard as I could,” Larry said, adding that he hit both men multiple times. The handle of the rake broke when he was hitting Medicine.

Brandon had been punching both men as well and had a bloody mouth, he said.

Eventually, Beaulieu came up to him and said, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry” and they both stopped fighting, Larry said. He told him, “We’re good. Go home,” and then Beaulieu walked away.

Medicine was still threatening Larry, so Larry told him to leave and then Medicine also walked away, he said.

Larry told the Crown that he saw posts about Beaulieu’s death online.

“I felt really, really sad when I heard that I possibly killed somebody,” he said.

The trial continues.

» adamski@brandonsun.com