The man accused of second-degree murder in the death of a much-loved Vancouver man says he was acting in self-defence after he was attacked.
Kitsilano resident Brent Steven White is charged in the death of Justis Daniel, 77. The case is being heard in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver with Justice Miriam Maisonville presiding.
“Did you intend to kill Mr. Daniel,” defence lawyer Brent Anderson asked White on Tuesday as he took the witness stand for the second day.
“Oh, no. Absolutely not,” White said. “I was forced into a situation to defend myself.”
Daniel was the caretaker of Tatlow Park, found slain in his home Dec. 10, 2021, in the city’s west side.
White testified Jan. 20 that he met Daniel in a coffee shop in 2008 or 2009, and that Daniel had later asked him to build a website for him. That request was sealed with a May 26, 2011 contract.
White said he had been to Daniel’s residence a few times and that he had slept over on occasion when they had worked late. He said they were not close friends.
White said had been living in his car and awoke in the city’s Jericho area before driving to Kitsilano Beach on the day of Daniel’s death.
He said he had gone for a walk and was in Tatlow Park when he saw Daniel, who invited him inside the park caretaker residence where he lived.
White told the court they were chatting and watching CNN. He said Daniel was talking about women he had met through the Plenty of Fish dating app.
White testified they were seated next to each other on a couch when he “felt a sharp, intense pain on the left side of my neck.”
“He had bitten me on my neck,” White said.
He said both men then stood up and that he was bleeding from the bite.
“I was very surprised and shocked,” White said, adding Daniel took an aggressive stance toward him.
“His eyes were wide, glaring at me,” White said.
While he later said Daniel was on a cocktail of pharmaceuticals, “He seemed to know exactly what he was doing.”
White said Daniel told him White would do nothing.
“‘I’m Iblis,’” White said Daniel told him. (Iblis is the Islamic name for Satan)
Then, he said, Daniel retrieved a sharp throwing knife from a coffee table and threw it at White.
“He directly projected it at my face,” he said.
“I feared for me life, absolutely shocked and speechless,” White said.
He said defensive instincts kicked in and he took a knife from his pocket.
“I directly took a strike to his neck,” White said, adding Daniel then removed the clothing from the of half of his body.
Samurai swords
White said Daniel was then looking past him at a Samurai shrine on a wall, a display containing swords and other martial arts weapons and a mask with huge teeth.
Defence lawyer Anderson asked if Daniel seemed to be in pain.
“No, not at all,” White said. “He seemed impervious to pain. He didn’t seem to flinch at all.”
White said he stood between Daniel and the weapons to avoid a further attack.
Then, White said, Daniel moved to the kitchen and began throwing things at him, hitting him in the head and body as shards of breaking objects flew around.
He said Daniel at one point picked up a vacuum cleaner and hit him in the face. White grabbed it at one point.
“I was defending myself,” he said. “I had this knife still with me.”
“I was counterstriking,” White said. “When he was leaning forward with his strike, I would strike him.”
Daniel then moved back to the living room where he fell onto the couch. White said Daniel was going for a weapon hidden under the couch.
“It was a wooden baton, maybe a couple of feet long,” White said. “I tossed it aside.”
With Daniel still on the couch and no upper body clothes on, White said he put a coat over him.
Then, he said, he took a key from Daniel’s keyring, left the residence and locked the door from the outside.
Not criminally responsible
As Anderson was about to ask White about entries in notebooks police had seized, some containing talk of vampires, Crown prosecutor Colleen Smith interjected, leading to a discussion about the possibility of White being assessed a finding of not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.
Anderson said White had instructed him not to seek such a finding, but Smith told the court that if White’s mental condition is to become an issue in the trial, it has implications for how the Crown moves forward with its case.
Still, Anderson said, the court is not bound by lawyers’ submissions on that issue and can make such a determination on its own.
Justis Daniel
Daniel was found dead in his home at West 3rd Avenue and MacDonald Street.
The Texas-born father of one was known as a talented singer and guitar player.
The Vancouver Police Department said White was arrested without incident.
Police said the long-time caretaker was also a well-known Kitsilano community fixture and had no known enemies. At the time of his death, there were no suspects and no known motive.
VPD major crime section commander Insp. Dale Weidman said White and Daniel were casual acquaintances but not friends.
The VPD has not commented on a motive and cause of death.
“This crime shocked the community and caused significant anxiety, in part because we could not immediately explain what happened or guarantee there was no ongoing public safety risk,” Weidman said March 28, 2022.
Daniel’s death was Vancouver’s 17th homicide of 2021.
