Jurors heard testimony from the last person to see Brennan Ahenakew-Johnstone alive when the inquest into his death resumed in Prince Albert on Wednesday.

Diamond Knife, who was around 17-years-old when Ahenakew-Johnstone’s body was found inside a burnt car on Ahtahkakoop First Nation three years ago, told the inquest they started fighting while drinking and smoking marijuana in the early hours of the morning.

What started as a play fight turned vicious, Knife said, with both combatants bleeding and bruised by the end. Knife told the inquest he then picked up a kitchen knife and asked Ahenakew-Johnstone to leave.

Knife said he threw the weapon to the floor shortly before Ahenakew-Johnstone began backing away towards the door. After opening his car door, Ahenakew-Johnstone turned and said he was going to hurt himself, Knife told the inquest.

Knife added that he urged Ahenakew-Johnstone to not do anything stupid. Residents found Ahenakew-Johnstone’s remains inside the shell of the burnt car later that day.

Some aspects of Knife’s story are different than the one he told RCMP three years ago, and legal counsel for all sides spent much of their time trying to determine which version was the correct one. In audio recordings of his interview with RCMP investigators in 2018, Knife said Ahenakew-Johnstone threatened to “burn” himself, not hurt himself. Knife said he paid little attention to the remark at the time because he didn’t think Ahenakew-Johnstone was “that kind of person.”

When asked how drunk they were on a scale of one to 10, Knife told the inquest both he and Ahenakew-Johnstone were “about a seven.”

Knife repeatedly told the inquest he picked up a weapon because he was scared of the much larger Ahenakew-Johnstone, and not because he was angry. When asked why they started fighting in the first place, Knife said he sometimes got in fights when he was drunk.

Knife had small amounts of blood on his shoes and shirt after the altercation. RCMP investigators took both as evidence.

Other witnesses who testified Wednesday told the inquest Knife asked them to apologize to Ahenakew-Johnstone on his behalf the next day. However, as with Knife, the inquest also had difficulty establishing a proper timeline with these witnesses, since some statements given to police in 2018 did not line-up with testimony given on Wednesday.

Latisha Sasakamoose, who was also at the party that night, told the inquest she saw the two fighting before her mother kicked everyone out of the house. Sasakamoose said Knife was angry at having lost the fight, which is why he picked up a weapon. She added that a medical condition prevented her from remembering many of the details, and said she was inside the house when Ahenakew-Johnstone left, so she wouldn’t know if he shouted anything before leaving.

Her testimony was inconsistent with a statement she gave to investigators in 2018, where she said she went to bed at midnight, around three-and-a-half to four hours before the fight allegedly occurred.

Sasakamoose appeared agitated on the stand, occasionally interrupting questioners before they finished, and at one point asking why a question was even necessary. After the latter, Coroner Blaine Beaven told her she was there to answer questions, not ask them.

A third person to attend the party that night, then 16-year-old Daysza Merasty, told the inquest everyone appeared to be getting along before she went to bed between 3:30 and 4 a.m.

Merasty invited Ahenakew-Johnstone to the party that day. She told the inquest he arrived after midnight and left an hour later, before returning with more marijuana after 3 a.m.

Merasty had only known Ahenakew-Johnstone for a few months, and said the two weren’t dating. She described him as nice and easy to talk to, and had invited him in to help her get high.

As with other witnesses, Merasty said there was a lot of drinking that evening. She said Brennan was noticeably intoxicated when she went to bed, and had been flirting and “getting handsy” with her that night.

Merasty told the inquest she never felt threatened, and saw no signs of a fight when she got up to go to school the next day.

She had trouble contacting Ahenakew-Johnstone that afternoon but didn’t find out he was dead until just before her soccer team took the field for a game in Prince Albert that night.

The inquest spent a lot of time trying to verify how much Merasty knew of Ahenakew-Johnstone’s whereabouts both before and after he left the party, and whether she tried to contact him the next day.

Private social media messages she sent to his account were not delivered, and there were disagreements over how many messages were sent. A copy presented by legal counsel for the Ahenakew-Johnstone family contained only two messages, including one where Merasty told Ahenakew-Johnstone that Knife wanted to apologize for the fight. Merasty was adamant she sent a third message asking where he was and if everything was okay.

Merasty told investigators in 2018 she didn’t know where he was between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. However, copies of social media messages presented on Wednesday showed Merasty knew he was at the gravel pits during that time.

RCMP Cpl. Robert Topping and SGI vehicle examiner Jeff Keyes were the only two investigators to testify on Wednesday.

Keyes was responsible for examining the vehicle after a towing company hauled it away from the scene, while Topping investigated the path that Ahenakew-Johnstone took when he left the road.

Topping told the inquest there was no signs of swerving, acceleration or sudden braking in tire tracks found in a nearby field and pasture. He added that it’s difficult to tell if Ahenakew-Johnstone tried to stop before hitting a grove of small trees where the vehicle fire started.

Much of the questioning focused on why Topping’s final report was different from the draft copy included as evidence. Topping said it’s common for reports to go through a review process to remove redundant comments. However, he told the inquest his conclusions were the same in both copies.

Ahenakew-Johnstone’s car, a 2002 Pontiac Grand Am, was so badly damaged Keyes said he could only speculate on exactly how the fire began. He said the flames started near the transaxle, which likely meant gear oil, motor oil and organic material like grass and trees all contributed to the blaze.

Keyes rule the fire accidental in origin, and said he had no recollection of someone setting an intentional car fire in this part of a vehicle. Suspects will typically choose the passenger compartment, he told the inquest, since there are so many combustibles nearby that help the fire spread.

A standing-room-only crowd turned out for Wednesday’s hearing, including a few visitors wearing “Justice for Brennan” t-shirts. The sizable crowd forced officials to bring in an extra row of chairs for the gallery.

The inquest continues on Thursday at the Coronet Hotel in Prince Albert. Start time is 9:30 a.m.