Man pleads guilty in 'unprovoked, spontaneous and gratuitous' killing of Prabhjot Singh Katri
Prosecutor said there's no evidence the two men had met before the fatal attack
A 21-year-old man from Pictou Landing First Nation will be sentenced in May for fatally stabbing Prabhjot Singh Katri in 2021.
Cameron James Prosper was charged with second-degree murder, but pleaded guilty to manslaughter in Truro Supreme Court on Dec. 19.
Prosper stabbed Katri in the neck at 2:04 a.m. on Sept. 5, 2021, according to an outline of the facts read aloud at the hearing by prosecutor Thomas Kayter. Katri was leaving a friend's apartment at 494 Robie St. in Truro when he was killed.
Katri came to Canada from India in 2017 to study, and was 23 when he died. At the time of his death, his friends told CBC News that Katri had completed his studies and was working as a taxi driver on a work visa while applying for permanent residency in Canada.
Kayter said as far as he can determine, the attack was not a hate crime.
"There's no evidence to indicate that the stabbing was motivated by ethnic hate or racism," he said.
"The motive remains unknown, and the evidence known to the Crown indicates that the violence was unprovoked, spontaneous and gratuitous."
Kayter said there's no evidence the men had met before the attack.
Judge accepts guilty plea
Justice Jeffrey Hunt questioned Prosper to ensure he understood that he was giving up his right to trial, and he was not pleading guilty under pressure or to get the legal process "over with."
"I'm pleading guilty because I'm guilty," Prosper replied.
According to the agreed statement of facts, Prosper was drinking shirtless that night outside the Robie Street apartment building with Dylan Robert MacDonald, 22, of Valley, N.S.
Prosper stabbed Katri in the neck with a folding hunting knife, which was never recovered.
Prosper fled the parking lot in a white Honda Civic with MacDonald at the wheel.
One of Katri's friends was able to provide a description of the men, the vehicle and a partial license plate. Katri's blood was later found in the car.
Katri managed to return to his friends' apartment, bleeding heavily from a four-centimetre wound in his neck.
One of his friends tried to staunch the flow, but he was lying in a pool of blood by the time Truro police arrived.
Katri was pronounced dead at the Colchester Regional Hospital shortly after 3 a.m.
At 3:44 a.m., police spotted the white Civic and gave chase at speeds approaching 200 km/h, but the men escaped.
MacDonald returned to the crime scene around 5:20 a.m. to try to retrieve a backpack from the apartment he'd been visiting.
He tried to run from police, but was arrested at gunpoint after a foot chase.
Police searched him and found a knife, cellphone, and a pack of cigarettes that appeared to have blood on them.
MacDonald also facing charges
MacDonald is charged with being an accessory-after-the-fact to murder, dangerous driving, driving to evade police, and obstruction of justice.
He'll appear in Truro Supreme Court in February to set trial dates.
A third man, 23-year-old Marcus Denny, was originally charged with being an accessory-after-the-fact to murder.
MacDonald and Prosper had been drinking in Denny's apartment on Robie Street on the night of the killing.
Prosecutors withdrew the accessory charge because of a low prospect of conviction.
Denny pleaded guilty to a related charge of public mischief in May 2022.
'A very complex sentencing hearing'
Prosper's lawyer, Malcolm Jeffcock, says he expects his client's sentencing hearing in May will be "very complex" due to sentencing principles Canada's Supreme Court says must be applied to all Indigenous people.
The judge has ordered a fresh Gladue report be prepared for Prosper.
Jeffcock says his client's biography is "exceptionally complex," and he'll likely call a Mi'kmaw elder to testify as part of the sentencing process.
Sentencing will also include victim impact statements delivered by a Sikh community representative, and Katri's family members in Canada and India.
