The friends of a man beaten to death this weekend at Cape Breton’s Eskasoni First Nation are remembering a kind, well-liked man killed in what they’re calling a senseless act.
Jeffrey Nicholas says the attack against 36-year-old Dale Dennis seemed to happen in a matter of seconds.
"He came out of nowhere. Hit him. I couldn't do nothing. I couldn't find nothing to hit him with. I ran in. Went on the phone. He wouldn't stop hitting him,” Nicholas said.
He says when he told the attacker he had called police, the man ran away.
Nicholas checked on his friend, who was unconscious and not breathing.
"His face was really puffed out. It didn't look like him. We had to put him on his side so he could start breathing again,” Nicholas said.
Dennis died, and now his friends have erected a small monument to his memory on the spot where he was attacked.
"I'm going to miss him. I've been around with him since we were young. He was like a brother,” Nicholas said.
He’s being remembered as a friendly and funny man, one who had even run for chief and was planning to do so again.
“He was adventurous. Very optimistic,” said the victim’s cousin, Perry Dennis.
"Dale was a very kind, loving father. He loved his daughters,” Dennis said.
Police later arrested 36-year-old Albert Michael Bernard and charged him with second-degree murder.
Bernard appeared in a Sydney courtroom by videolink on Monday, telling the judge the attack “didn’t have to happen.”
He will remain in custody until he returns to court on Aug. 4 for a bail hearing.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Ryan MacDonald
