Second fatal stabbing puts accused on trial again

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This article was published 08/06/2021 (1599 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Already convicted once of manslaughter, Rodney Williams is hoping to be found guilty of the same offence as he stands trial for murder in the 2019 stabbing death of 51-year-old stranger Robert Donaldson.

Donaldson died after suffering a stab wound to the chest during an early evening confrontation near the intersection of Sara Avenue and Sherbrook Street.

Williams, 36, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder. Williams admits stabbing Donaldson, but is expected to argue he was too intoxicated by alcohol or drugs to form the intent to commit murder.

“The identity of Mr. Williams as the person who stabbed Mr. Donaldson is not in dispute,” Crown attorney Chantal Boutin told Justice Shauna McCarthy in an opening address Monday.

“While the Crown does not dispute that Mr. Williams’ bravado may have been assisted by the consumption of intoxicants, the evidence, we say, will show he had the requisite (state of mind) to commit murder, that his actions and words in the moments before, during and after Mr. Donaldson’s killing demonstrate that intention,” Boutin said.

In 2009, Williams, then 24, was sentenced to 18 years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter for stabbing a man to death three years earlier following a party at Hollow Water First Nation. Court at the time heard Williams stabbed victim Leslie Moneyas five times, including four times in the back. He was granted statutory release in 2017.

In the current case, court heard Williams left his Sherbrook Street apartment armed with a knife, and walked with another man to a nearby gas bar where he “exchanged words” with an employee before continuing a block south on Sherbrook when he crossed paths with Donaldson and a male companion.

Williams “verbally confronted” Donaldson before pulling a knife from his waistband and chased Donaldson and his friend as they fled north toward Sara Avenue. Williams cut Donaldson once in the ribs before a passerby tried to intervene and gave Donaldson and his friend a baseball bat and hammer to defend themselves.

“Williams continued to focus his attack toward Mr. Donaldson as the two other men attempted to keep Williams at bay,” Boutin said. “In plain view of evening traffic, and after several attempts to stab Mr. Donaldson, Mr. Williams plunged the knife into Mr. Donaldson’s chest.”

Williams ran home, arriving just 27 minutes after he left, and was quickly arrested by police.

Several security cameras document many points in Williams’ route as he left his apartment, attacked Donaldson and returned home, Boutin said.

“The Crown’s theory is that as Mr. Williams set out that evening he was aggressive, armed, and full of bravado,” Boutin said. “Mr. Donaldson was in the wrong place at the wrong time and became the unwilling target of Mr. Williams’ aggression.”

The trial is set for one week.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca