Murder trial begins for Calgary man accused of killing a teenager outside a Beltline nightclub
Posted January 14, 2019 6:20 am.
Last Updated January 14, 2019 6:49 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
CALGARY (660 NEWS) — It’s taken more than five years, but a trial has finally begun for a Calgary man charged with first-degree murder in the swarming death of a teenager outside a Beltline nightclub.
Nathan Gervais has pleaded not guilty in the death of Lukas Strasser-Hird, 18. He did not appear for his initial trial back April 2016 as he fled to Vietnam where he was arrested last year.
“We had thought once he was gone — when he had left the country — we didn’t have a lot of hope,” Dale Hird, father of Lukas, said. “We’re sure glad that the police and the detectives stayed on it.
It’s a tough thing to be here, but I’d rather be here than have Nathan sitting on a beach somewhere in Vietnam.”
Strasser-Hird was swarmed outside of Vinyl nightclub, beaten, and stabbed to death over an altercation that began with Strasser-Hird telling one person in the group that he didn’t appreciate the use of a racial slur.
This morning Dale and the jury were shown video surveillance of the attack, Dale watched with mixed emotions.
“It’s hard and sort of sweet at the same time. That’s the last time that I ever saw my son alive,” he said. “I saw it the first time in the last court case, but it’s difficult to see.
He said he accepts it being shown if it helps the case, “but it’s nice to see my boy.”
Last week 27-year-old Sean Airey and 21-year-old Marshall Quillian were both charged with obstruction of justice, forging a passport, making a false statement to procure a passport and being an accessory after the fact to murder.
Assmar Shlah and Franz Cabrera have already been convicted of second-degree murder and a Joch Pouk of manslaughter. The fourth man, Jordan Liao, was acquitted.
With files from Kristen Fong.
