Man found guilty of 2nd-degree murder in Tatlow Park caretaker killing

The man accused in the gruesome killing of popular Kitsilano park caretaker Justis Daniel has been found guilty of second-degree murder in B.C. Supreme Court.

Brent White, 54, will be sentenced at a later date.

A dozen of Daniel's friends in attendance quietly clapped, hugged and sobbed as Justice Miriam A. Maisonville delivered her verdict.

The 77-year-old was found dead in a bloody scene inside his Tatlow Park caretaker's cottage on Dec. 10, 2021. He had been stabbed 42 times in the head, face and neck and had suffered blunt force trauma to the head. 

White's defence never contested that he killed Daniel, but argued he had done it in self-defence.

During the trial, White testified that Daniel suddenly became violent, bit White's neck and drank his blood as the two men sat on a couch in the cottage watching CNN. He said Daniel threw a knife at him and claimed to be Iblis, the Islamic equivalent of the devil.

He said he defended himself using a knife to "recompense" Daniel for his actions.

But Maisonville said White's testimony was inconsistent, neither credible nor reliable, and "a product of hindsight at best of a bizarre nature."

She said White's assertion that Daniel — a frail 77-year-old who weighed just 139 pounds — could have attacked White in the way he described was not reasonable.

She said there was no evidence that White had a mental condition that could raise a reasonable doubt as to his intent to kill, intent being a necessary finding for guilt in second-degree murder.

White covered up Daniel's body and blood stains after the murder and took Daniel's cellphone and key, and locked the cottage door behind him when he left. He later disposed of the key and phone.

He was arrested three months after the murder after being identified on video that police gathered from the Tatlow Park area.

Traces of Daniel's blood were found on a folding knife and sandals located in the van that White lived in.

The court heard that the two men were acquaintances who had visited in Daniel's cottage on occasions prior to the killing.