Jury trial begins for Halifax man charged in 2012 stabbing

A trial is underway for a Halifax man accused of stabbing another man to death over an insult.

Aidan David Cromwell, 24, appeared in Nova Scotia Supreme Court on Tuesday. He has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Marc Bernard Tremblay, also of Halifax, in 2012.

The trial began with jury selection in the morning, with the Crown making opening statements in the afternoon.

“This case is not complicated,” Crown attorney Carla Ball said to the jury. “We know who did this; we know how it was done. Aidan Cromwell murdered Marc Tremblay because he didn’t like what he heard.”

She told the jurors that Tremblay, 25, was stabbed after he and a friend were walking in Halifax’s Fairview neighbourhood the night of Feb. 2, 2012.

Tremblay called out “you suck” to Cromwell and his girlfriend. Cromwell then produced a knife and stabbed Tremblay through the heart, Ball said.

Tremblay died within minutes.

Halifax Regional Police Const. Gilles Boudreau, who was off-duty the night in question, told the jury he drove by the scene with his girlfriend shortly after 11 p.m. He saw the wounded Tremblay lying on his back and a “shocked” male standing beside him at the corner of Ashdale Avenue and Titus Street.

Boudreau described Tremblay’s eyelids as “fluttering” and his breathing as laboured. Tremblay did not respond when Boudreau spoke to him, the blade was still in his chest.

Boudreau told the jury he called 911, then he and another bystander got in Boudreau’s car and began to patrol the neighbourhood for the assailant. They called off their search after police arrived.

During cross-examination, defence attorney David Bright questioned Boudreau’s military background and first aid training, as well as his familiarity with the area where the crime took place.

The trial before Justice Timothy Gabriel resumes Wednesday and is scheduled to last 16 days.