Woman with Adam Drake the night he’s accused of killing Pat Stay testifies at trial

Nicole Zakhour, who was with Adam Drake the night of battle rapper Pat Stay's murder, takes the stand.

The jury in Adam Drake’s second-degree murder trial has seen a lot of video so far, both from the Yacht Club Social – where Pat Stay was fatally stabbed – and the Halifax Marriott Harbourfront Hotel before and after the killing.

But no one had officially identified Adam Drake in those videos until Thursday.

Nicole Zakhour said she was with her best friend the evening of Sept. 3, 2022, when she received an Instagram message from Drake, asking her to go out for drinks.

She hadn’t seen Drake in three or four years prior to that night, she said, but described him as a longtime friend and acquaintance.

She agreed and the pair met up with Drake and his friend at the downtown Halifax hotel’s bar before heading out.

Zakhour testified after learning a local beer garden was closing, the group of four ended up at the Yacht Club Social. Video showed they entered the bar at 10:32 p.m.

She said they had been drinking earlier in the evening and continued taking shots at the club.

Upon direct examination from the Crown, she told the jury she’s always known who Pat Stay was and there was always a “good energy vibe” between them.

She crossed paths with him at the club that night, testifying about exchanging hellos with the battle rapper, but that was the last conversation she had with him.

Stay’s partner, who has sat through the duration of the trial in the public gallery, started to cry seeing the video footage of him walking up to Zakhour, moments before he was stabbed.

Stay appeared to then walk past Zakhour to greet others.

Zakhour said all she remembers is a “fight” break out, but that it was a blur because it all happened so fast.

“I just saw Pat kind of tumble over and fall to the ground, so I don’t know what had happened at that time,” she told the jury. “I thought he got punched.”

She testified a man in an orange hoodie had punched Stay but that she didn’t know who it was at the time.

But she didn’t see Stay get stabbed, saying, “If I had known something had happened, I wouldn’t have been able to continue my night.”

After seeing Stay head for the front exit, she testified her group of four went out the back door of the club and they walked back to the hotel where Drake was staying.

During cross-examination by Drake’s lawyer, Michael Lacy, Zakhour said they were not a couple and repeated that it was a good night – and that Drake’s demeanour didn’t change after leaving the club.

After a brief stop at the hotel, she and two others continued on to another bar but Drake stayed back at the hotel.

She told the jury she didn’t see any blood on Drake and agreed with Lacy that ending up at the Yacht Club Social that night was “random.”

She told the trial she didn’t talk to Drake at any point after that night. He was arrested six days later and faces a charge of second-degree murder in Stay’s death. Drake has pleaded not guilty.

About five weeks have been set aside for the trial.

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