‘There is no doubt’ accused killed three-year-old, Crown tells jurors

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/09/2021 (1698 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Enraged after his girlfriend told him she was leaving town without him, Daniel Jensen made a plan to hurt her in the most damaging way possible — by killing her only child, the prosecution said in its closing argument Tuesday.

“He was ready to hurt anyone who crossed his path, but most of all he wanted to hurt Clarice Smith. She was leaving him and he knew exactly how to hurt her,” Crown attorney Jennifer Mann told jurors.

Jensen, 34, is on trial for first-degree murder in the October 2019 stabbing of three-year-old Hunter Smith-Straight.

Jurors have heard evidence Jensen assaulted Smith at the Northern Hotel after an argument over her decision to move to her mother’s home without him. Prosecutors allege that’s when Jensen made his way back to their Pritchard Avenue home and stabbed the sleeping child six times in his head and neck.

Hunter was taken to hospital after suffering massive blood loss and irreversible brain damage. He was taken off life-support three days later and died.

Witnesses have testified Jensen was let into the house to “check on” Hunter and left minutes later, a short time before family members discovered the mortally wounded child.

Jensen was arrested later that day. Blood found on Jensen’s hoodie, T-shirt and sweatpants was later matched to Hunter’s DNA.

Jensen’s lawyers pointed the finger at another suspect in the home, one of Hunter’s adult cousins, who when questioned by police that day had bloody injuries to his hands and blood on his clothing.

That man testified he had injured himself when, in a fit of anger, he broke dishware and punched a door.

Defence lawyer Bruce Bonney accused police of focusing solely on Jensen while ignoring the cousin, who had several convictions for violence, including one for stabbing his brother.

Bonney argued the man was angry because he, along with everyone else in the house, had to move out due to a violation of the lease.

“Before and after Hunter’s death he was subject to violent outbursts. It was in his nature,” he said.

Police didn’t seize any of the man’s clothing and didn’t check to see if blood spatter at the scene matched his DNA, Bonney argued.

Security video later that day showed Jensen visiting a Leila Avenue Boston Pizza restaurant and a liquor store before he was arrested.

Bonney said if Jensen had killed the boy, he would have made more of an effort to hide.

“If Daniel Jensen was running away to escape, he clearly wouldn’t be wandering around the city the next day,” he said. “Wouldn’t you think he’d be on the Trans-Canada Highway with his thumb out, trying to get out of town as quickly as possible?”

Bonney argued Jensen came upon Hunter after he had been stabbed and that his blood ended up on his clothing after he tried to revive the boy.

Mann rejected that theory, saying the blood spatter on Jensen’s clothing was consistent with someone holding the boy down with his left hand while stabbing him with his right.

“There is no doubt that Daniel Jensen killed Hunter, none at all,” she said.

Evidence of an alternative suspect is enough to provide jurors with reasonable doubt, Bonney said.

“Your duty is to ensure there is not a wrongful conviction here,” Bonney said. “If you were to say to me that Daniel Jensen was probably or likely guilty, I wouldn’t argue, but that’s not enough. He has to be proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Jurors are expected to start deliberations on Wednesday.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca