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Kelowna  

'He wasn't just a nobody'

His name was Waylon Percy Junior Jackson, not 'the deceased,' as he was frequently referred to at the murder trial for his killer over the past three weeks.

“I did not name him deceased, and I do not like it that he was referring to my son as the deceased in the courtroom,” said Christine Whiskeyjack, Jackson's mother.

Chad Alphonse, the man who stabbed Jackson three times, piercing his lung and heart, on the evening of March 11, 2016 was found guilty of manslaughter Friday by a 12-person jury, but was acquitted of a second-degree murder charge.

An accused must be proven to have had the intent to kill or cause serious injury for a murder conviction.

Whiskeyjack, who drove from Alberta to attend the trial with 'Justice for Waylon' stickers on her SUV, says she's angry about the result of the trial.

“I don't have no justice yet,” she said. “I think that he should be locked up, the accused, I don't think he should be allowed to roam free in Kelowna.”

Whiskeyjack took particular exception to Alphonse's statement to police that Jackson was “like a brother” to him.

“A friend wouldn't do that to another friend in front of their child,” she said. “He took my late son's life in front of his daughter. A friend wouldn't do that.”

Jackson's mother remembers her 26-year-old son as a hard working, talented and artistic man, who played guitar and was a tattoo artist.

“My Waylon was a Grade 12 graduate, he was a scaffolder, he wasn't just a nobody," she said, her voice swelling with pride. "He had family in Alberta that loved him and cared for him."

After growing up in Goodfish and St. Paul, Alta., small communities northeast of Edmonton, Jackson moved to Kelowna in 2015, when his girlfriend, Naomi Foureyes, moved to attend school.

“He was a family-oriented person and she was pregnant with his child,” Whiskeyjack said. “He wouldn't allow her to be a single parent."

On the evening of Jackson's death, Alphonse, who was dating Foureyes' sister, joined them at their home on 115 Gerstmar Rd. to help decorate for Foureyes' baby shower the following day. After several hours of drinking, Jackson and Foureyes went upstairs to go to bed, but heard arguing between Alphonse and his girlfriend downstairs.

Jackson went downstairs to investigate, and ended up fighting with Alphonse, at one point hitting him with a chair. As he walked away from Alphonse, who was on the ground, Alphonse lunged at him, fatally stabbing him in front of Foureyes and their five-week-old child.

Alphonse is expected to be sentenced on the manslaughter conviction sometime in the next two months.



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