Trial set in fatal Stampede stabbing

Man’s lawyer says he will elect to be tried before a judge alone

A five-day trial has been set for a Calgary man accused in a fatal Calgary Stampede stabbing.

Defence counsel Andrea Serink appeared in court on behalf of her client, Rinato Toy, and told Chief Justice Neil Wittmann she and the Crown have scheduled a trial to being March 27, 2017.

Serink said she will file a re-election from a jury trial to one before a judge sitting alone, which will al- low for the hearing to be completed within a week.

Toy, 21, is charged with manslaughter in connection with an incident on the Stampede grounds in July 2015.

He was originally accused of aggravated assault after Zakariah Abdow was knifed on the fair grounds around 12:15 a.m. on July 9, 2015.

But the charge was upgraded to manslaughter after Abdow, 25, died in Foothills Hospital on Sept. 27, 2015.

Toy was arrested suffering his own stab wounds after a foot chase leading off the Stampede grounds.

Police at the time said a third man was also knifed in an altercation involving several individuals.

The other injured person was taken to Rockyview General Hospital, treated and later released.

The arrest came after officers were alerted to a fight on the midway.

Police said at the time it was believed all parties involved in the altercation knew each other.

Toy, who was not in court, has been on bail on conditions which have included 24-hour house arrest and an order he abstain from alcohol consumption.

He was ordered to stand trial following a preliminary inquiry in May.

If convicted he could face a sentence of up to life in prison.