The son of a Kelowna man who was viciously beaten to death described an assault and a warning from the Hells Angels that preceded his father’s slaying.
Kaylin Phillips, 27, testified Tuesday that he was punched in the face by a man at a recycling depot just hours before his dad, Dain Phillips, was attacked on June 12, 2011.
The Crown witness said that he and his then-girlfriend had gone to the depot in his truck to pick up some boxes for moving when a truck occupied by two men pulled up.
He said one of the men was Daniel McRae, one of four alleged Hells Angels associates on trial for manslaughter in his father’s death.
The other man came up to him and repeatedly called him by his brother Kody’s name, Phillips told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Mark McEwan.
When he denied that he was Kody Phillips, the man with McCrae pointed to a tattoo on his forearm, he said.
The man said, “You see this tattoo” five or more times and then punched him in the face with a closed fist, he said.
The tattoo had the words British Columbia on the bottom and a skull in the centre, said Phillips.
Prosecutors have alleged that the tattoo was a Hells Angels tattoo and that it was on the arm of Norman Cocks, a full-patch member of the notorious motorycle gang who has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in Phillips’ death.
At the time of the attack, Daniel McRae had a close friendship with Cocks, prosecutors said in their opening statement.
After the tattooed assailant punched him, the attacker said, “‘Pass the message on that the Hells Angels are looking for (your brother),’” said Phillips.
Once McRae and the assailant had left the scene, Phillips said, he phoned his brother to meet him at his parents’ home.
Asked by prosecutor Joe Bellows why he called his brother, Phillips replied: “Because I just got paid a message that someone was looking for him.”
Phillips said he met with his brother and his parents and they decided to visit the home where McRae lived to sort out their differences.
He said he just wanted to settle things with the McRaes, but added he was prepared to fight if necessary.
Phillips then described another confrontation in which his father’s truck was nose-to-nose with a vehicle occupied by Daniel McRae and the man who had punched him at the depot.
The truck with McRae and the other man in it slammed into reverse down the road, with his father’s truck giving chase, he said.
He and his brother Kody had gotten out of their dad’s vehicle, and ran down the road after the disappearing vehicles, he said.
Phillips is expected to describe on Wednesday the fatal attack on his dad.
His brother, Kody, finished his testimony earlier Tuesday following a lengthy cross-examination.
Daniel McRae, his brother Matthew McRae, Anson Schell and Robert Cocks, the father of Norman Cocks, have pleaded not guilty to manslaughter.
