As his life ebbed away on a city balcony, a grievously injured Kamloops man pointed the finger at his neighbour, reportedly telling RCMP “Jason did it”. Justice Joel Groves was informed of this during the first day of trial for Jason Michael Holm, the 39-year-old charged with Paul Samuel Whitten’s murder.
The two were neighbours in Clarke Street apartments and Whitten, also 39, had been stabbed 49 times on 2 August 2020. The Crown prosecutor then proceeded to call Const. Carolyn Braun as the first witness and she recounted tearfully what happened that night.
Braun and another constable were first at the scene where they found Whitten calling for help from a second storey balcony. He had large gashes across his chest, back and arms with blood all over him and the walkway. When asked who had done this to him, Braun said he replied in a strained voice: “Jason did it.”
The officers helped paramedics transfer Whitten to an ambulance but felt his body become limp along the way; he died shortly after arriving at Royal Inland Hospital. The trial is set to continue for more than two weeks with evidence from local residents describing Holm’s demeanor around the time of Whitten’s death – some of whom will likely recall seeing him behaving erratically then. Last year, Holm was declared fit for trial after earlier being declared unfit because of mental disorder which Groves may have to consider if relevant later on.
