Editor's Note: This story contains strong language and descriptions of violence.
THUNDER BAY – One of the youth stabbed during an altercation near the James Street Swing Bridge in June 2021 that claimed the life of 16-year-old Kody Furioso expressed anger and disbelief that such a violent act seemed to be over accusations of stolen cigarettes.
“Who would shank someone over cigarettes? That’s what pisses me off,” the youth said in court. “That guy should go to jail for life. He stabbed a ... kid.”
The youth was called to testify on day one of the trial for 32-year-old Dustin Moffatt, which opened in a Thunder Bay Courtroom on Monday before Justice Bruce Fitzpatrick.
Moffatt pleaded not guilty to one count of second-degree murder and one count of aggravated assault.
The charges relate to an incident that occurred just after midnight on June 29, 2021 near the James Street Swing Bridge.
Furioso and his friend were involved in an altercation with a man in the area resulting in Kody suffering a stab wound to the stomach and the youth a stab wound to the chest.
A passerby called 911 and emergency crews responded to the scene. Kody was transported to the hospital but later died of his injuries. The youth, who was 17-years-old at the time, was also transported to hospital and released several days later after being treated for a collapsed lung.
In addition to the youth’s testimony on Monday, the court also viewed video of statements he made to police at the scene and later while still in hospital and again at the Thunder Bay Police Service headquarters.
According to the youth, he and Kody were riding their bikes on trails in Fort William First Nation and when returning back to the city they encountered a man on the James Street Swing Bridge.
The youth testified that the man accused them of stealing his cigarettes and described him as ‘a junkie.’
The first video shown to the court was body-camera footage worn by a responding officer to the scene under the overpass on James Street. In the video, the youth is seen holding up his shirt revealing what looked to be a stab wound to his upper chest.
The youth said he and his friend were stabbed.
The youth said after the altercation took place, he and Kody rode their bikes down James Street where Kody collapsed under the overpass.
“I saw him grab his stomach. I knew he got stabbed. My brain was going. I hopped on my bike and he hopped on his bike and when he fell that is when I started helping him,” the youth said.
“I remember screaming and trying to help Kody. No one stopped. No one pulled over. I went to every frickin' house, screaming at the top of my lungs.”
The officer asked the youth if he had consumed any drugs or alcohol and he said he had a few beers that evening and some marijuana earlier.
Throughout the video statements and testimony, the youth said he was unable to remember some details of what happened, and the only description he was able to provide was that the man who attacked him and Kody was ‘a short white guy’ with short hair.
The court also viewed surveillance video captured from a nearby building that showed the altercation near the bridge.
Kody and the youth can be seen riding their bikes from the bridge and a third individual in black follows. During one point in the video, Kody and the third person in black moved into a shaded area and could not be seen for several seconds. Kody and the youth are then seen fleeing the area on their bikes.
The Crown also called two Canadian Pacific Railway workers to testify who were on a train that was moving across the bridge at the time of the altercation.
The two workers testified to seeing two youth fighting with a man in dark clothing.
The passerby and his wife, who stopped at the overpass where Kody was on the ground, also testified on Monday, saying they thought he had wiped out on his bike, but that a second youth told them they were stabbed and to call 911.
The two witnesses testified to seeing a man on a bike in the area riding toward the James Street Swing Bridge before encountering Kody.
Moffatt was located in the area the next morning and arrested on unrelated warrants before later being charged with second-degree murder and aggravated assault.
The youth identified Moffatt in court as the man who attacked him. But Moffatt’s defense counsel, Alison Craig, asked him if he had seen Moffatt’s face on social media and news sites after his arrest, to which he said he had.
Testimony is expected to continue on Tuesday. The trial is scheduled for four days.
