Latest news with #BrinnMcKenzie
CBC
02-06-2025
- General
- CBC
Pat Stay stabbed after verbal altercation and a shove, witness tells murder trial
A woman who stood next to Pat Stay moments before he was fatally stabbed at a Halifax nightclub has testified that the battle rapper and another man had a verbal confrontation that turned physical. The second-degree murder trial of Adam Drake heard Monday from Brinn McKenzie, who was working as a server at the Yacht Social Club when the attack occurred early on the morning of Sept. 4, 2022. McKenzie, 25, said she was providing bottle service to patrons seated in the VIP section of the bar on Lower Water Street. She told the Nova Scotia Supreme Court she didn't recognize anyone in that section that night and only learned Stay's name later. She described one of the people seated in the VIP section as a white man in a white shirt. Other witnesses have identified that man as Drake. McKenzie said when Stay arrived, the Dartmouth man greeted almost everyone at the table with handshakes, hugs or fist bumps. She said the one exception was the man in the white shirt. She testified the two men exchanged words and Stay shoved the other man. McKenzie did not see a weapon and said she did not witness the stabbing. McKenzie said she only became aware of what had happened when Stay turned and she saw blood. Stay slipped in the blood as he ran out of the bar, she told the jury trial. Witness unable to identify people in grainy video The Crown had a video expert enhance the security video from the bar that the jury has already seen. The enhancement zooms in on Stay, but the image is so grainy, it's difficult to make anything out. McKenzie was able to recognize herself in the enhanced video but she said she couldn't be certain of any other identities. Stay, 36, was pronounced dead in hospital shortly after the stabbing. Drake, now 34, was arrested a few days later. His trial is expected to run until mid-June.
CTV News
02-06-2025
- General
- CTV News
Server at nightclub says Pat Stay was in ‘verbal altercation' before stabbing
Brinn McKenzie, a server at the Yacht Club Social in September 2022, testified at Adam Drake's second-degree murder trial on June 2, 2025. (CTV Atlantic / Callum Smith) Brinn McKenzie, a server at the Yacht Club Social in September 2022, testified on Monday at Adam Drake's second-degree murder trial. In charge of the VIP area, McKenzie was working the night of Pat Stay's death and heard a verbal altercation between Stay and a man in a white shirt at about 12:35 a.m. on Sept. 4, 2022. She says she did not see any weapons or what caused the blood she saw after Stay turned from a group of people he was interacting with at the nightclub. She testified she didn't know Drake or Stay in Sept. 2022, but later learned who Stay was. She never identified Drake in her testimony or while watching any video in court, but continued describing a man in a white shirt. Nicole Zakhour, a previous Crown witness, has testified Drake was wearing a white shirt when they were out that night. Greetings, verbal altercation McKenzie testified that after Stay walked into the club, he 'was standing right next to me, within an arm's length' while greeting a group of people with handshakes and fist bumps. She told the jury Stay did not greet the man in the white shirt, and she witnessed a 'verbal altercation' between Stay and him. Stay had pushed the man in the white shirt, she testified. 'I did not hear what was said because it was loud in there,' McKenzie told the jury. Another man in an orange hoodie pushed Stay, she said, before Stay left the table. She said after the altercation with the man in the white shirt, 'Pat turned and ran out of the bar and then slipped in his own blood and got up and continued to run out of the bar.' When asked by the Crown, McKenzie said she did not see any weapons or what caused the blood. During the verbal altercation, she said others made comments appearing to come 'from a place of concern about what was going on.' Cross-examination During cross-examination by Drake's defence lawyer Michael Lacy, McKenzie agreed that she never saw the man in the white shirt initiate any physical altercation with Stay. He asked McKenzie if there were more people in the area where the stabbing happened than the four people she was serving that evening. She agreed. She also said it was tough to identify people through the video footage, which was black-and-white surveillance footage from the club. Drake has pleaded not guilty to the charge. Monday marked day 12 of the 24 days set aside for the trial. Testimony continues Tuesday. For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
