Court hears how fatal attack on Tori Dunn happened as murder trial begins – B.C

The man accused of killing a woman in her Surrey home two years ago pleaded not guilty in court on Monday.

Adam Mann, 42, is on trial for second-degree murder in the June 16, 2024 death of Tori Dunn.

Dunn was seriously injured in a random attack at his home in Port Kells and died in hospital.

In its opening statement, the Crown said Dunn was stabbed inside his home after returning home from a birthday dinner with his girlfriend.

The two of them were on the sofa and Dunn fell asleep.

Shortly before 9:45 p.m., an intruder broke in and stabbed Dunn several times, the Crown said, including in the stomach.

The first witness to appear was Trafford Wace, Dunn’s boyfriend.

The two lived together in the house in Surrey, which also housed two other tenants in the unit below their residence.

On June 16, 2024, Wace said he and Dunn returned home between 8:30 and 9:00 p.m. after having a birthday dinner at his grandmother’s house.

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He said the two of them sat on the couch, cuddling and watching TV before Dunn fell asleep on his shoulder.

Wace said he got up to go to the bathroom and left Dunn on the couch with his eyes closed and the TV on.

He said he ran when he heard Dunn screaming louder than he had ever heard him before.

“I saw a guy, like, leaning against the wall with Tori in front of him,” Wace said. “I said, ‘Who are you really?”

“He turned around and said, ‘Oh shit’”

Wace said the man was wearing a gray T-shirt, toque and sweatpants, and had facial hair.

She said she saw something shiny in his hand and when she asked Dunn what happened, he replied, “he stabbed me.”

He said he then grabbed a knife, but the man ran away and that’s when Wace called 911.

He cared for Dunn, he added, but Dunn told him he thought he was dying.

When he called 911, Dunn was unconscious, Wace added.

He said Dunn’s main wound was in his lower right abdomen.
He confirmed that the intruder was a stranger to him and had never seen the suspect before that day.

One of the first people to respond to the 911 call was Surrey Police Const. Jay Mander.

He testified that he and another member moved Dunn from the living room floor to the grass outside, because it was unclear whether the suspect was still inside.

Mander told the court the victim had a “two-inch stab wound to his stomach” and was conscious and flailing before being put into an ambulance.

He died shortly afterward in hospital. While at the scene, Mander testified that he was told it was a homicide.

Mann was found within half an hour and within a kilometer of Dunn’s home. Judge David Layton told the jury that Mann was of Black and Indigenous descent.

Dunn’s family and supporters packed the courtroom Monday for the first day of Mann’s trial, filling half the room, but his father declined to speak outside afterward.

The Crown will call several witnesses, including police officers and forensic pathologists in the jury trial, which is expected to last three weeks.

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