Further details have emerged about the night 53-year-old Jacobus Jonker became unresponsive following an altercation with police officers at the Smithers RCMP detachment on the night of Feb. 14, 2015 and left him dead a week later.
On Monday afternoon, a jury heard statements from Jonker’s wife Cornelia and daughter Adelle about a timeline of that evening’s events at a Coroner’s inquest that began Monday.
Testifying before Special Investigations Coroner Susan Barth, Cornelia told the court the day began with Jacobus becoming frustrated with his son for not wanting to help him take some trash to the Telkwa dump.
She said when she got back from a hair appointment, she could tell things were tense at home.
Despite trying to calm him down, Jacobus became argumentative.
Later, when Cornelia left for the grocery store, she asked him if there was anything he wanted her to pick him up.
Jacobus had one request: alcohol.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea, I said, [and he said] ‘well, that’s what I want’,” said Cornelia, who would also mention — in response to a question from inquest counsel Christopher Godwin — that she believed Jacobus had a drinking problem.
“When he started, he couldn’t stop and when he’s drunk he became aggressive … and he was already upset,” she said.
The night continued with Cornelia beginning dinner.
She said Jacobus began drinking brandy.
By the time dinner was ready, Cornelia said Jacobus was uninterested in eating and she did not know how much he had to drink.
When the couple’s 17-year-old daughter Adelle arrived around 8:30 p.m. the situation began to escalate, with Jacobus becoming verbally abusive toward Cornelias and Adelle.
While Cornelia hoped he would consume enough alcohol and go to bed, the jury heard from a Feb. 16, 2015 testimony given by Adelle at the Smithers RCMP detachment in which she said went to her mother’s side to defend her after Jacobus became verbally abusive.
“I told him that he had no right to tell my mom that everything was her fault.”
Shortly after mentioning he was feeling depressed and “in a dark place” to Adelle, Jacobus locked himself in the house’s master bedroom.
In response, Adelle and Cornelia went to the gun safe — located in the spare bedroom — to check on the six guns in the house, worried by his statements and state of intoxication that he might hurt himself or others.
Upon entering the room they found the locked gun safe, however they could not find the spare key, which Adelle testified her mother said was normally in that room.
At this point, Adelle broke into their parents’ locked master bedroom using a quarter to wiggle open the lock, where she observed her father laying on the bed, reading from a bible.
Retrieving the other gun safe key, she went back to the spare bedroom where her brother opened the gun safe and confirmed all the guns were present.
In her testimony she said at this point she had enough and knew it was time to call 911.
“I told my mom I want to call the police … I don’t think we can deal with this on our own, it’s been going on too long — something needs to stop, he needs help.”
Shortly after, Jacobus entered the room and Adelle told him she would call the police if he did not leave.
That, she said, got his attention.
“His eyes went all lifeless and [he] just said ‘I am not going to the drunk tank’.”
Seconds later, Jacobus stormed into the kitchen, where Adelle testified she heard him routing around drawers, where he kept his hunting and fishing knives.
Shortly after her father came out of the kitchen, holding a knife.
“It was a really sharp … it was the sort of knife you can kill someone with.”
At this point, Adelle ran outside and called 911.
“Next thing I knew my mom ran out and she saw me and she just said, ‘Adelle, run, he has a gun!’ and I went behind his truck that was parked on the far side of the front door in the driveway and I saw him with his gun inside the doorway … in his left hand.
“I didn’t know if it was loaded or not.”
Adelle said Jacobus never raised his hand holding the gun above his hips.
“I was close enough that I felt like he could shoot me if he pulled the trigger right now and hit my leg or something.”
Adelle then ran from his truck across the street to behind the neighbour’s car, parked on the street
“I heard the door close and I ran,” said Adelle, who was still on with 911 during the whole interaction.
“I told [the operator] to rush, I told her to bring people because I don’t know what’s going on — I don’t know what he’s going to do.”
Moments later, the first RCMP cruiser showed on the scene.
The inquest heard testimony Tuesday and Wednesday from the RCMP officers who attended the scene on Feb 14. 2015.
Jacobus Jonker died a week later on Feb. 21, 2015 following an altercation that took place a week earlier between police officers and a civilian jail guard at the Smithers RCMP detachment cell block.
The inquest is not meant to assign blame or fault, but rather to gather the facts surrounding why a death took place and elicit recommendations for how to prevent deaths under similar circumstances in the future.
Stay tuned to interior-news.com for ongoing coverage of the inquest.
