The second day of trial concluded Friday for a couple who allegedly poured coffee on the floor, made racist comments and threw a cup at a Chinese barista in Steveston’s Rocanini Coffee Roasters.
Astrid Maria Secreve and Michel Jean-Jacque Berthiaume, who told the court that he now goes by Eric Berthiaume, returned to Richmond Provincial Court on Friday morning to cross-examine Nikki Tan, the alleged victim.
Secreve and Berthiaume are representing themselves in court without a lawyer.
The first day of trial had ended after Crown’s opening statement and examination-in-chief of Tan
While cross-examining Tan, Berthiaume questioned her meticulously about the layout of the coffee shop, COVID protocols and the sequence of events. In particular, he questioned whether Tan had thrown a rag at Secreve before Secreve threw a cup at her.
At one point, Berthiaume showed Tan a photo of her face taken by the police, asking her whether it showed any coffee on her face. Tan had testified earlier that coffee from Secreve's cup had splashed onto her face when Secreve threw the cup at her. Berthiaume said he tried to be “innovative” and rotated the picture clockwise but could not see any droplets.
When Tan pointed out that there were droplets on her nose, Secreve interjected, “Bad skin.”
Berthiaume also asked Tan if she thought the couple’s actions were “racially motivated, coronavirus motivated, or better yet, coronavirus-related.”
Tan said she thought it was racially motivated.
“If it was [coronavirus]-related, you can say, ‘F*** you,’ or some words like that instead of saying, ‘F*** you Chinese.’ That’s racial related,” she explained.
Barista ‘lied a fair amount,’ accused suggests
During his cross-examination, Berthiaume pointed out that the store hours were not 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. as Tan had testified on Thursday afternoon, but 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. instead. He also said the couple had gone back to the coffee shop to fetch Secreve’s purse and they weren’t brought back by the police.
After a series of questions, Berthiaume suggested to Tan that she lied “a fair amount,” but Tan disagreed.
He also suggested that Tan “didn’t even know” what he was saying due to her “poor English,” but Richmond provincial court judge Diana Vandor stopped him from asking Tan to respond to the statement.
Turning to the events outside the coffee shop, where Tan had filmed the couple as they got into their car, Berthiaume said that Tan “didn’t seem to have much empathy” as she would not “let it go” despite him telling her to do so.
He asked Tan if she thought “it might be scary” for “seniors” for “young people like you” to follow and film them.
“Age is not an issue,” said Tan. To which Berthiaume replied, “Technology is an issue.”
Secreve’s cross-examination, on the other hand, focused on whether Tan was wearing a mask and whether she had thrown coffee on Tan’s face. She also asked Tan why she threw the coffee-stained mask away when it could have been used as evidence.
“I didn’t think that far away,” said Tan.
Crown’s second witness, Wei (Raymond) Chan, was called to testify after both parties finished questioning Tan. Chan was also working at Rocanini Coffee Roasters at the time of the incident.
Court heard Chan’s version of the events, including the fact that he heard someone say, “F***ing Chinese,” but he wasn’t sure who had said it.
The trial has been adjourned for the time being and the parties will be meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 20 to schedule three more days to continue the trial. Secreve and Berthiaume are set to cross-examine Chan when the trial resumes.
