HALIFAX—The jury heard testimony from the superintendent of the Dartmouth apartment building where 35-year-old Halifax mother Nadia Gonzales was found, as the trial for the man and woman accused in her death continued into its tenth day.

Ivan Simmonds, superintendent of the 33 Hastings and 6 Prince Arthur apartment complexes, told the court on Monday that he and another resident had been outside drinking beers for “a couple hours” that evening when three people he described as an older man, a younger man and a younger woman came to the building sometime after 7 p.m.

Gonzales was found unresponsive in a black hockey duffel bag in the west stairwell of 33 Hastings around 8 p.m. the night of June 16. She had suffered 37 stab wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene, the court has heard.

Calvin Joel Maynard Sparks, 26, and Samanda Rose Ritch, 22, each face one count of first-degree murder with respect to Gonzales’ death, and one count of attempted murder with respect to injuries sustained by 72-year-old John Patterson.

Patterson was found on the lawn of a nearby elementary school with life-threatening injuries from six stab wounds, the court has heard.

Both Sparks and Ritch appeared in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in front of Justice Christa Brothers on Monday.

Simmonds told the court that he recognized one of the three people who came to the apartment that night, the older man, as someone who would come by the apartment “once in a while” to visit 60-year-old Wayne Bruce, who lived in apartment 16 of the building.

“I assumed they (were) friends,” Simmonds told the jury.

Simmonds said the group rang the buzzer for apartment 16, but when there was no answer, resident Henry Armstrong — the friend he had been drinking on the porch with — let them in instead.

Only five minutes later, Simmonds testified, the younger man who had arrived with the original group left the apartment. During cross-examination, Simmonds told the court the man had “a bit” of blood on him, and a scratch on his neck.

In that time, Simmonds told the court, a tenant came downstairs to make a complaint about loud noise coming from apartment 16.

After receiving the noise complaint, Simmonds told the court that he went upstairs to check on apartment 16, and noticed “a pool of blood” outside apartments 15 and 16. He tried to call Bruce, who goes by the nickname Batman, but when there was no reply he knocked on the door, Simmonds told the court.

Simmonds testified that he and Bruce shared a five minute conversation where Simmonds asked if Bruce knew what the blood was about, and Bruce told Simmonds he didn’t know what was going on and that he had just been watching TV.

During cross-examination, Simmonds also told the court that Bruce did not seem shocked by the blood, and would not allow Simmonds to enter his apartment.

After speaking to Bruce, Simmonds told the jury that a tenant asked him to look in the stairwell because there was a duffel bag on the landing.

“I seen this hair sticking out of the bag,” Simmonds told the court.

Simmonds testified that he could see the bag was partially unzipped, and recognized that there was a woman inside of it.

Henry Armstrong, a resident of the 33 Hastings building, also took the stand during Monday’s proceedings. He told the court that he had been outside on the front steps of the building drinking a case of beer when an older man ran out the front of the building calling for an ambulance.

“He was moving pretty quick,” Armstrong said.

Armstrong told the court he had only been outside for “a few minutes” when the man ran out, bleeding from gashes in his stomach area. He watched the older man cross the street and lay down on the grass at a nearby elementary school, so he called paramedics and waited with the man until they arrived.

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During cross-examination, Ritch’s defence lawyer asked Armstrong if he remembered telling police in a statement that he had seen “another young male” leave the building, but Armstrong testified that he could not recall.

Armstrong told the court the police confiscated his case of beer that evening.

“You guys should write that one down ’cause I’d like to have those back, too,” Armstrong said during cross-examination.

The court also heard from Det. Const. Jason Joncas, who was a member of the plainclothes unit working in Dartmouth at the time. Joncas testified that he responded to a call about a stabbing on the evening of June 16. On his way to the scene, Joncas said, he received a call that identified the victim as Gonzales.

“Through prior events I was somewhat familiar with Gonzales being in the drug trade,” Joncas testified.

Joncas told the court that, due to prior intelligence, he was aware of one of Gonzales’ associates, with whom she had once been in a relationship. So after helping secure the scene around 33 Hastings, he went to the associate’s house in an attempt to find him.

“We assumed it had something to do with drug culture,” Joncas said.

Joncas later received a call that the same associate had been arrested with two other men in a parking lot near the 33 Hastings apartment. He was then tasked with seizing their vehicle, a Toyota Camry, and accompanying it to police headquarters in Halifax for processing, Joncas told the jury.

Joncas testified that on the morning of June 17, he was responsible for finding a silver Honda Accord thought to be associated with the case. He located the car at an address in the Fairview area of Halifax, Joncas told the court, and accompanied it back to Halifax police headquarters for processing.

The jury also heard testimony from HRP Sgt. Monier Chediack, who supervised the constables on scene the night of June 16. Chediack attended to the duffel bag in the stairwell with an EHS member, and stood by as the emergency responder adjusted Gonzales’ body to check for signs of life.

Chediack told the court they found Gonzales to be “beyond help,” and she was pronounced dead at the scene.

The trial is expected to continue Tuesday with further Crown witnesses, and is expected to run for a total of 19 days.

Julia-Simone Rutgers is a Halifax-based journalist and a freelance contributor for Star Halifax. Follow her on Twitter: @jsrutgers

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