Accused in murder feared for life, court told

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This article was published 08/10/2021 (1649 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg woman on trial for fatally stabbing 25-year-old mother of four Shaylynne Hunter told police she was acting in self-defence and feared the victim would kill her or her co-accused, court has heard.

Hunter died May 25, 2019, after she was stabbed 21 times outside her Simcoe Street home.

Diane Tamara King, 20, and Tasha Laquette, 24, have pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder.

In a lengthy Winnipeg Police Service interview recorded three days after the killing, King alleged, while leaving a house party at Hunter’s home, Hunter struck her with a metal pole without warning.

“I don’t know what it was about, but Shaylynne hit me first,” she told investigators in a video interview played in court Wednesday and Thursday.

King said Laquette tried to protect her and was struck in the head with the pole. As Laquette dropped to the ground, King saw Hunter drop a knife, she said.

“I thought Shaylynne was going to pick up that knife,” she said. “My first reaction was to pick it up. And as she was swinging the pole, I must have just swung it once without even looking and I must have hit her.

“It was either me or my friend going to die… or her, and it turned out to be her.”

Later in the interview, King estimated she swung the knife at Hunter “three or four times.”

“This makes me feel shitty,” she said. “Someone’s mom really got taken away from the kids, just like how I’m getting taken away from mine… (Hunter’s children) are never going to get to see their mom. My kid might even have a chance to see me, and that’s what makes me feel f—ing shitty.”

Asked if she knew how many times Hunter had been stabbed, King said she didn’t want to know.

“It’s just going to make it worse for me right now,” she said. “Like just hearing this just like f—ing kills me. Like, it wasn’t supposed to be this way. Nothing was.”

A toxicology report revealed Hunter had a blood alcohol reading of .190 when she died, more than twice the legal limit for driving, and had consumed cocaine.

During cross-examination of pathologist Dr. Jason Morin, King’s lawyer. Saul Simmonds suggested Thursday the combination of drugs and alcohol could have caused Hunter to lash out violently.

“When you add these two together, the ability to perceive things… can be markedly reduced” and a person can become paranoid, Simmonds said.

“That is correct,” Morin replied.

Laquette provided a video statement to police, but Justice Joan McKelvey ruled earlier it was not admissible at trial.

In comments immediately after her arrest, Laquette told police she had been friends with Hunter for seven years and described the incident as “a drunken mess.”

“She was very emotional,” WPS Det. Sgt. Warren Yerex testified Tuesday. “She indicated everyone involved in this she has known for years… She said Shaylynne, ‘Always gets violent when she drinks.’”

The trial continues.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca