Stabbing victim ID’d killer in his ‘final words’: Crown

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This article was published 24/09/2019 (2351 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Prosecutors in the trial of a 14-year-old boy accused of fatally stabbing another teen will argue a judge should accept the victim’s “dying declaration” that it was the accused who killed him.

The youth has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder. His trial started Tuesday, one year to the day after the killing at the McPhillips Street underpass.

Under provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act, neither the accused nor the 17-year-old male victim can be identified by name.

Court heard the two crossed paths in the underpass sometime after 3:30 p.m., and the victim was assaulted.

The victim “emerged from the underpass injured and looking for help,” Crown attorney Melissa Carlson told provincial court Judge Julie Frederickson.

When police arrived minutes later, the victim, in his “final words,” identified the accused as his attacker, Carlson said.

Winnipeg Police Service Det. Sgt. Parampreet Sahota reviewed for the court surveillance footage taken from McPhillips Station Casino, Winnipeg Transit and an area business that showed “a person of interest” entering the underpass from the north and exiting the underpass in the same direction minutes later on a bicycle.

No video footage was available showing the victim entering the underpass, Sahota said.

Const. Danielle Aessie, a member of the forensic identification unit, testified she attended to Health Sciences Centre, where she seized the victim’s blood-stained clothing. She said the teen had suffered three stab wounds to the chest.

Under cross-examination, Aessie said the accused’s DNA was not found at the murder scene nor on the victim’s clothing.

“Unless (the accused) was bleeding, I wouldn’t expect to find any of his DNA at the scene,” Aessie said.

“I believe it was a very quick interaction, so I wouldn’t expect any DNA to transfer.”

The route was under construction at the time of the killing. Witnesses set to testify at the trial will include construction workers and passersby who attempted to aid the injured victim.

A police spokesman, at the time of the killing, said the victim and the accused knew each other. He said the victim was not known to the police, while the accused had “substantial” contact with police in the past.

The trial is set to run until Friday, and resume for 10 days in October.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca