In Calgary courts: Jurors watch shocking video of city couple being ambushed by a gunman as they left home​on February 10, 2025 at 11:40 pm

The fatal stabbing of a Priddis man outside a Banff bar is not a whodunit, a Calgary jury was told Monday.

In an opening statement to a 14-member Calgary Court of King’s Bench jury, Crown prosecutor Mykel Long said the question of who killed Ryden Brogden won’t be for them to have to determine.

“This case is not about how the deceased, Mr. Brogden died, nor is it about who caused his death,” Long said, on the first day of what is scheduled to be a three-week trial.

The prosecutor went on to say accused murderer John Sproule and Brogden were strangers and tourists in the idyllic mountain town when they had a chance encounter outside the Dancing Sasquatch on Banff Avenue on the early morning of Sept. 3, 2022.

Long said Sproule and his brother Josh were in Banff as part of a family vacation and had gone out for drinks after dinner.

Brogden, meanwhile, was passing through the national park town on his way to B.C. for a fishing trip with friend Howard Pearce, who had also gone out for a night on the town.

“Four men had an interaction outside the Dancing Sasquatch,” Long said.

During the fight John Sproule repeatedly stabbed Brogden, he said.

“Mr. Sproule inflicted 12 stab wounds and seven incise wounds,” Long said.

“Three of these stab wounds caused Mr. Brogden’s death.”

Sproule, from Lake Country, B.C., is charged with second-degree murder in Brogden’s death.

Among the witnesses Long and co-prosecutor Kaitlin Perrin intend to call are staff from the Dancing Sasquatch, including two bouncers who “ultimately interfered with the interactions between the four men.”

Perrin also read in a statement of agreed facts signed by the accused and his defence lawyers, Cory Wilson and Matt Browne, detailing how the brothers and Brogden and Pearce all arrived in Banff just hours earlier.

“The two men (Brogden and Pearce) had stopped in Banff on their way to B.C. for a fishing trip and decided to go for drinks,” she said.

Perrin said the altercation involving the four men was partially captured on CCTV video which also showed Sproule and his brother walking from the scene afterwards.

She said police found and seized “a bloody folding knife on Banff Avenue,” as well as a blood-soaked T-shirt.

Forensic testing found both Brogden’s and John Sproule’s DNA on the weapon, Perrin said.

There were also blood markings leading from the scene to where Sproule was eventually arrested.

“The knife and shirt were located along this path with the assistance of a police dog.”

An autopsy was conducted days later and a pathologist concluded “three of the stab wounds were fatal.”

KMartin@postmedia.com

X: @KMartinCourts