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Accused killer was severely beaten hours before fatal party
'I don't want to tell the cops. I was trying to keep it ‘rez style’ – you get beat; don't talk about it,' says Zakk Lafferty
It was 3:30 am when RCMP Const. Jeremy Broderick pulled up to the scene of a drinking party homicide in Behchokǫ̀ on August 4th, 2023.
“There was a lot of chaos,” the officer testified at the murder trial of Zakk Lafferty on Tuesday in NWT Supreme Court in Yellowknife.
The victim, Deijean Drybones, 17, was being brought out of the house by paramedics and he was losing a lot of blood through a single stab wound to his chest, the officer testified under direct examination by Crown Prosecutor Brendan Green.
“I could smell a strong odour of liquor coming from his breath … I followed the paramedics all the way to the health centre to give them a hand,” Broderick said. “Mainly, I was putting pressure on the wound.”
Drybones died at 5:55 am after he arrived at Stanton hospital.
Twenty-four-year-old Lafferty was arrested at the Behchokǫ̀ Health Centre just after 11 am that day and charged with second-degree murder.
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- Zakk Lafferty outside of court Tuesday. The Behchokǫ̀ resident is charged with second-degree murder. (James O’Connor/CKLB)
In an agreed statement of facts, court heard that Lafferty asked for a lawyer soon after being arrested, and spoke with one on the phone.
In a transcript of recordings admitted into evidence Tuesday, Lafferty did respond to some questions in conversation with an RCMP officer during his trip to Yellowknife for further medical treatment.
“I don’t want them to hate me. It’s a small town. Everyone’s going to find out about it real fast,” he is quoted as saying on the recording. “I’m scared of my reputation, I don’t want to ruin my reputation.
“I’ve got no more friends in Rae (Behchokǫ̀). No more friends for me. They’re all gone now. Got it? What’s going on, ruining my life, what’s going on?
“When I came back (from being beaten up), I was crying, I fell asleep … when I woke up, I feel like this now. I shouldn’t have drank.”
Court heard Lafferty was jumped by a group of people and robbed of his phone, money and alcohol some hours before the fatal drinking party.
Said Lafferty on the RCMP recordings: “So I couldn’t say nothing. That’s why I don’t want to call the cops, because I got robbed for my booze and my money and everything. I don’t want to tell the cops. I don’t want to tell nothing.
“I was trying to keep it ‘rez style’ – you get beat; don’t talk about it.”
Lafferty’s phone was found at the crime scene, court heard.
On it were five selfies of himself holding a bottle of Smirnoff blue label vodka, taken early in the morning on August 2nd 2023.
Lafferty’s DNA was found in the blood in and around the bathroom where he was found. The accused’s DNA was not found.
Court also heard Tuesday that despite an extensive search of the homicide scene – including a canine unit outside – the knife used in the attack never materialized.
Investigators also waited four days before searching the suspect’s home, as the community was just re-populating from a lengthy wildfire evacuation.
Lafferty lives with his elderly grandparents and police didn’t want to remove them from their home, having just returned to it.
No evidence was found in Lafferty’s house.
The trial continues, with jury deliberations possibly beginning Thursday.
