Argument led to fatal stabbing, court told

With one fast movement, Frederiko Kodiak Louie lunged forward and attacked Mark Henderson outside his room at the former Traveller's Inn on Gorge Road East, a Crown witness testified Thursday at Louie's second-degree murder trial in B.C. Supreme Court.

Kevin Mowbray, a 44year-old bike technician who lived in suite 106 with his girlfriend, Tracy Ensign, testified that he was nodding off about 2 a.m. on Nov. 11, 2010, when he heard shouting and swearing.

Mowbray got up and went outside. He saw Henderson and Louie, whom he'd met for the first time that night, standing outside suites 111 and 112.

"Can you describe what's happening?" Crown prosecutor Paul Donnachie asked Mowbray.

"Mr. Henderson was telling Mr. Louie to f---off, shut up and go back to his room. Mr. Louie was very loud, very upset at something and telling everybody to f---off, I guess," Mowbray recalled.

Louie was enraged and seemed a lot more aggressive, said Mowbray. "He was not listening to what Mark was telling him."

The two men, who were standing five to six feet apart, did not even notice him standing there, Mowbray said.

"They were arguing back and forth, and out of nowhere there was an outburst attack, which was very fast, a lunge-type movement forward from Mr. Louie at Mr. Henderson," testified Mowbray.

"He made one swing, one swing, with one arm, then the other. And that was it. It was over in a heartbeat. It was that fast."

Henderson lifted his left arm to block Louie. He was not coming at Louie aggressively, Mowbray recalled.

"And as fast as Mr. Louie jumped in there, he jumped back like a boxer. I noticed he was holding a knife because it shone in the light and the light at the motel was excellent."

The blade was six-to eight-inches long, he recalled.

"At that point, my attention went back to Mark. He turned and kind of looked at me as he walked into his room."

At first, Mowbray thought Louie had just punched Henderson.

When he saw the knife, he thought that maybe Henderson had been cut on the arm, Mowbray testified.

He went back to his room and told his girlfriend to call Henderson's room. When she couldn't get through, she called 911.

Mowbray stepped outside again and saw Louie walking into his suite. As he stood there, Louie came out again carrying something wrapped up. Mowbray was worried Louie had a shotgun.

"My mind was racing one thousand miles an hour. I'm starting to fear the worst. I had just seen a young man with a knife," he testified.

Mowbray watched Louie walk down to the dumpster at the end of the parking lot. As Louie was walking back he finally noticed Mowbray, the witness recalled.

"He looked into Mark's place and he screamed at me: 'Murder in selfdefence.' I told him to go f--- himself. Then he walked back into his place," testified Mowbray.

Police were beginning to arrive, he recalled.

Earlier, Mowbray and Ensign were in bed watching TV when Louie knocked on the door at 11: 30 p.m. He asked Ensign if he could buy a few cigarettes.