The cross-examination of a witness of a deadly shooting in South Surrey in 2017 has started in B.C. Supreme Court 香蕉视频直播� focusing on her identification of the man who stands accused of the killing.
The murder trial of Brandon Nathan Teixeira is continuing at B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster Friday (May 2) with Person A,, continuing her testimony.
More than seven years ago, Nicholas Khabra was found by police with fatal gunshot wounds in the doorway of a residence in the 14300-block of Crescent Road in South Surrey. The 28-year-old died of his wounds. Teixeira was arrested in Oroville, Calif. in December 2019 after several warnings, public appeals and manhunts in connection to the Oct. 23, 2017 killing of Khabra.
Reza Mansoori-Dara, defence counsel for Teixeira, began questioning and her several statements to police after the shooting. Person A was also shot by the same person who killed Khabra, having been struck in both of her legs before driving away from the scene.
Teixeira is pleading not guilty to three charges: first-degree murder of Nicholas Khabra, attempted murder of a female (Person A) shot the same day, and discharging a firearm.
The Crown also states that Teixeira and a witness dubbed Person X, who took the stand earlier in the trial and garnered a deal with RCMP to work as an informant, were paid $160,000 to kill Khabra under the belief that Khabra had set up Teixeira days prior in a drive-by shooting.
Due to Person A's injuries due to the shooting and her agreement to testify as a witness, she received financial support from when she joined the program in 2019 to March 2025 for her accommodation and living expenses, education and training, medical and other expenses filed under miscellaneous, Crown counsel Caroline Richardson shared, which Person A agreed to.
There were three phones located in Person A's vehicle when it was searched by police after the shooting, one of which was hers and two others she did not recognize.
Person A said she only ever saw Khabra use one phone, but a secondary phone, a Nokia, was located in her car as well as paperwork and a firework that she did not know were in her vehicle and were not hers. They were all likely Khabra's, she deduced.
Khabra had told Person A that he worked as a longshoreman in addition to his firework business, but Person A said she never saw Khabra work as a longshoreman and said he was always available to see her.
Mansoori-Dara took Person A through her initial 911 phone call, her statements to police where she said she did not know the shooter and her statements following and the photo pack she completed with RCMP in November 2017 where she identified Teixeira through a photo as the person who shot and killed Khabra and who shot her as well the same day.
The defence also questioned Person A on her testimony so far in court.
Person A was also asked about a video recording made without her knowledge in a vehicle she was in after Khabra's funeral, with his father, uncle and a woman.
"I was surprised," she said, describing her feelings when she found out recently that a recording was made. When asked by Mansoori-Dara, Person A also testified that she has not been in contact with Khabra's family for the last couple of years.
The defence also quoted Person A from her photo-pack interview with RCMP to the jury, where she said she was nervous and confused. Person A testified that all of the quotes were accurate to what she had said during the interview.
The jury was also shown video footage from Person A's police interview reviewing the photos to identify the shooter and the photos she was shown by police, from which she ended up choosing Teixeira.
Mansoori-Dara's line of questioning was focused on whether Person A would have been able to identify Teixeira, either through photo or in-person in the courtroom last week, based on official statements she has made.
She was shown the photos of each of 10 men in an effort at identification three times, Person A testified.
"I don't think it's any of them," Person A said, according to the transcript from her first time seeing the photos.
"If he was skinnier, he kind of looks like the guy," she also said, the defence read out.
Person A was not encouraged by any police officer to choose any of the 10 photos as a suspect, she said.
In terms of Teixeira's current appearance, the suspect has a full beard and wears glasses in court. When Person A had seen him in October 2017 on the two occasions, she said he never wore glasses, only had stubble on his face but not a full beard and was leaner in build.
"You were not paying attention to the eyes, the colour of the eyes," the defence added, which Person A agreed to. She also testified to not paying much attention to his ears and his hair was never visible, as he always wore a hat.
At one point during the investigation, Person A also testified that it was possible that the shooter could've been a "light-skinned East Indian."
Person A admitted to numerous statements during the police photo pack interview, including: "I could see a resemblance but I don't want to say yes," "I actually thought he was Indian," "He could get mistaken for a brown guy" and "What if I'm choosing a complete different person?"
Also during the photo pack interview, after Person A had chosen the photo of Teixeira as the shooter, the police officer interviewing Person A accidentally let Teixeira's name slip as to the person she identified during the photo pack interview.
Mansoori-Dara also questioned Person A's ability to identify the Jeep Cherokee vehicle from the two occasions and definitively say they were the same, when there were no unique features on the car. Still, she maintained they were the same vehicle she saw Teixeira in.
The defence also stated that shortly after the shooting, Khabra's family and friends were looking up photos of Teixeira online, which Person A said she was not aware of.
Khabra's father never showed her a photo of Teixeira, Person A said, but she admitted that one of Khabra's friends showed her a photo of Teixeira during the time she was providing statements to police, to help identify the shooter, before she was shown suspect photos by police. But, Person A said the photo she was shown by the friend was blurry.
She also told police in around November or December 2017 that she did do her own research on Teixeira on one or two occasions.
"You went through a very dramatic experience," Mansoori-Dara said.
"It is perfectly reasonable for you to want to know who is behind the shooting, and... you sort of had an interest in the process, what was going on because you were a victim and you wanted to know who was responsible for shooting your good friend."
Person A also admitted that many different people, including Khabra's family, were speaking with her about who the shooter was. During the time of Person A doing her own research in the following weeks and months of the shooting, she came across an article online that stated there was a fourth person present at the scene of the shooting, the witness' identity protected and dubbed Person X.
Started in February, Teixeira's trial is expected to last six to eight months. Person A's testimony is continuing for the next few days.
