The man accused of shooting his former boss to death at a Vancouver Christmas party took the stand in court on Friday, and said he didn't intend to hurt anyone.
Eric Kirkpatrick, 63, is on trial for first-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of Benjamin David Banky.
The 40-year-old CEO was killed in front of dozens of colleagues at a staff party for his company TallGrass Distribution, a natural food health supplier, on Dec. 12, 2008.
Kirkpatrick was fired from his job at the company warehouse one day before the shooting.
As he took the stand on Friday, a defence lawyer asked Kirkpatrick to describe his former boss.
Banky was "very friendly and open. He encouraged you.... He encouraged me," Kirkpatrick said.
But after he lost his job, Kirkpatrick said, "I wanted revenge. I can't hurt people. I had to hurt the company. What can I do? I have to make people understand why I left the company."
The next day, Kirkpatrick rented a car and grabbed his shotgun and a Christmas present for Banky. When he got to the office, he fired one shot into a wall before cornering his former boss.
"I tried to see if Ben was alive.... I pushed him a couple of times ... [there was] no sound," he testified.
Kirkpatrick also revealed that he suffers from epilepsy, and was distraught over his wife's death from cancer when he was fired from TallGrass.
The testimony was difficult for Banky's friends to hear.
"The anniversary of his death is coming up on Sunday, and it's hard for all of us," Matt Heemskerk told reporters outside the court.
"It's really hard and stressful. It's emotional; our friend was killed."
Kirkpatrick's trial continues in B.C. Supreme Court on Monday.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Jina You
