For Nick Tanti, it was a typical Friday night in Downtown Guelph, for him and a group of friends.
Go to the local bar, have a couple of drinks.
"He was just his usual self," Erik Hodge, a longtime friend of Tanti's, testified during the trial of Aidan and Angus Kee Thursday. "He was a person that had a very big personality, a laughable guy, fun guy.
"That's how his demeanour was (the night of February 29, 2020)."
"He's a pretty social guy," added Jesse Brace, who was working at Tony's Billiards the night of the fatal stabbing and also took the stand.
"It would be strange to see him just standing there, drinking alone, not talking to anybody."
Hodge said Tanti arrived at Tony's around 10 p.m. that night, after attending a work party at a Guelph Storm hockey game at the Sleeman Centre down the street.
Tanti, he added, met him at the bar about an hour later. He wasn't sure if Tanti had a drink there, but did purchase a couple himself.
Crown attorney Thomas Meehan asked Hodge if he had any indication if Tanti was drinking or seemed intoxicated at the time, to which Hodge answered no.
Later on, some people decided to make a move down the street.
"There was four of us that decided to go over to Onyx," Hodge said. Among the group of four was himself, Tanti and two of their friends.
Hodge, unaware that Tanti was banned from the nightclub, said they arrived around 12:45 p.m. Hodge paid the five dollar cover charge for himself and Tanti.
"We spotted an open table (when we got in), we put our coats and our stuff down, and then we went to the bar to get a drink," he said. "I bought myself and Nick Tanti a beer."
After socializing for a bit, Hodge said Aidan approached their table to say hello to the group.
"It seemed like it was a friendly interaction," he said.
Hodge testified that he didn't see Tanti leave, and went downstairs with a friend to have a smoke just before 2 a.m.
"I believe (Tanti) was still upstairs," Hodge said, adding he didn't go back up after, walked over to get some food, took a cab and went home.
However, Tanti was over at Tony's, where Brace was still on shift.
He testified Tanti was involved in an altercation with Aidan outside, seemed "agitated" and told him when he got inside "he had said he just jumped somebody.
"He was slightly out of breath, and breathing heavily," Brace said, adding later that Tanti seemed "hyped up" but didn't look injured.
A moment after Tanti went inside, Brace indicated a couple people went to the door. He recognized one of them as Aidan.
"They came to the door and said Nick just jumped them," he said. "And we were like 'okay, well you guys can't come in here and beat him up right now, we'll go talk to him.'"
Tanti was then told, Brace said, that there are guys outside "a little pissed off at you."
In response, he said Tanti went outside, and it being the middle of winter, Brace went to get his coat to go outside and monitor things.
But by the time Brace got outside, he said he witnessed Aidan and Tanti in the midst of a scuffle.
"I didn't think what was going to happen was what was going to happen," he said. "Figured they'd yell at each other, they'd try to throw some punches and I'd kind of separate it."
Brace did help in separating the two, and said he didn't see a weapon or any blood during the scuffle, other than "a bit" on Tanti's pants.
When things settled, Brace mentioned Aidan yelled something toward Tanti. While he doesn't recall the exact words, he did note Aidan was upset.
He said he checked on Tanti, and when Tanti pulled his shirt up and saw the wound and bleeding, he "stumbled backwards." He and others at the scene brought him into the entrance way of Tony's to put pressure on the wound, and Brace called 911.
Through all of this, Brace said the other person at the scene was "standing a couple feet back," and doesn't recall them saying or doing anything.
Some workers at Onyx also testified Thursday.
Savannah Petrachenko was the lone bartender on the night of Feb. 29, and saw both Kee brothers.
"I served (Angus) a few beers at the bar," she said. "He was just chilling at the bar for a little bit, I spoke with him a little bit.
"I've seen him drunker," she later added.
As for Aidan's level of sobriety, Petrachenko said she didn't really talk to him that night, but saw him walk fine and "wouldn't have" cut him off.
She was also asked about the knife in question, one she described as being used in more of a "utilitarian" sort of way, a tool to open boxes.
Michael Falcioni, co-owner of Onyx, also took the stand and acknowledged the fight that got Tanti banned. He said he had manager Samantha Gilbert take the reins, and was in the office both times Aidan went over to tell them Tanti had returned.
Falcioni was the one to approach Tanti on the first occasion, informing him he was banned, and confirmed he was polite.
"He was fairly indifferent," he said. "Didn't seem emotional about it. He wasn't angry."
The second time, he directed Gilbert to take care of the situation.
The reason Tanti was able to get in both times?
Falcioni said they rotate their door person regularly, so the person working those nights "very unlikely (they'd) be able to recognize those faces" of those who were banned.
Aidan, the older brother, faces a second-degree murder charge, while Angus is accused of unlawful act manslaughter and accessory after the fact manslaughter.
The trial continues Friday.
