‘I am truly sorry’: Accused in murder trial apologizes to family

Crown and defence lawyers rested their cases Wednesday on the sixth day of the trial of a man charged with second-degree murder, at the Nunavut Court of Justice in Iqaluit.

Brandon Lyta, now 25, is charged in the May 15, 2020 death of Levi Michael, who was 29 at the time, in Iqaluit.

Lyta took the stand Wednesday, telling the court he stabbed Michael in self-defence outside Building 4145 in Iqaluit after Michael hit him with an ice chisel.

Michael was able to take a taxi to Qikiqtani General Hospital, but later died there from his injuries.

Lyta testified Wednesday the pair had been playing poker at Lyta’s apartment that night with another friend.

Lyta said following the game, at around 2 a.m., an argument took place inside the apartment and he was confronted by Michael and Michael’s friend, who he said were both punching him.

Lyta said he was frightened and grabbed a kitchen knife, then proceeded to pick up his beer and the money he won and left.

During cross-examination, Crown lawyer Faiyaz Alibhai asked Lyta why he grabbed the knife.

“Because you were angry?” Alibhai asked.

“Because I was scared,” Lyta replied.

Lyta testified that less than a minute after he left, he saw Michael running down the apartment’s back stairs.

He said Michael chased after him and raised an ice chisel at his head, holding it like a baseball bat. Lyta testified he covered his head with his arm and was hit more than five times.

Lyta said he then stabbed Michael at the same time that he was hit with the ice chisel.

He said he then walked away, throwing the ice chisel and the knife in nearby culvert and a ditch.

Alibhai suggested to Lyta that Michael did not have an ice chisel at all that night.

Lyta denied that suggestion.

He also testified that he deleted his text messages on his phone before he turned himself into police following the alleged stabbing.

He told the court also lied to police during questioning about not having a cellphone.

When asked by defence lawyer Alison Crowe why he lied to police about the phone, Lyta said he was homeless at the time and had sold it to give money to his son before turning himself in.

Before his testimony began, Lyta, sitting in the witness box, rose and turned toward Michael’s family who were seated in the courtroom and apologized to them.

“I know it was life-altering, as it was for me. I replay it in my mind and I always pray for a different outcome and it doesn’t happen,” Lyta said, while wiping away tears.

Lyta said it had been “eating away” at him for the past two years.

“I am truly sorry that this has taken place and I wish I could turn back time … this could have never happened,” he said.

“I am truly sorry from the bottom of my heart … I’m sorry. I really am.”

Michael’s family sobbed as they listened to Lyta speak.

The trial began Wednesday with testimony from Dr. Alfredo Walker, a forensic pathologist in Ottawa who performed the autopsy on Michael’s body.

Walker told the court Michael had been stabbed in the back of his left arm, with the blade going through his arm and entering his torso where it went between his ribs and into his left lung.

Walker said the total depth of the cut was 18 centimetres, from the entrance wound in the arm to the wound in the torso.

Lyta cried as photos taken of Michael’s body during the autopsy were shown on a screen in the courtroom.

Under cross-examination from the Crown, Lyta told the court he had not met Michael before May 14. Lyta said he was living at the Iqaluit men’s shelter at the time.

Chief Justice Neil Sharkey, who presided over the trial, will set a date to hear oral arguments from Crown and defence lawyers on Oct. 31.