Trial underway for Barrie area man charged in fatal Banff bar stabbing

The trial for a Barrie area man charged with second-degree murder in the death of a 26-year-old man at a bar in Banff two years ago got underway in Calgary.

On Thursday, the prosecution told the court John-Christopher Arrizza stabbed Ethan Enns-Goneau multiple times at the Dancing Sasquatch nightclub on August 5, 2022.

Enns-Goneau was rushed to the hospital, where he later died.

The security guard who found Enns-Goneau outside the bathroom in the nightclub told the court he came upon a fight between the two men.

In 2022, CTV News Calgary spoke with several friends of the victim who called the attack random, adding the two men didn't know each other.

Arrizza has pleaded not guilty.

"It's been a long two years just waiting to find out what's going to happen with it, so we're all looking forward to some closure. It's been extremely tough, extremely hard," said Enns-Goneau's close friend Sarah Oberthier. "I just hope we get some justice. We deserve to move on," she added.

The fatal stabbing was the town's first homicide since 1990.

With files from CTV Calgary