Dagger found just blocks away from Northwoods Inn stabbing, trial hears
A jury has heard about a dagger and sheath found just blocks away from a fatal stabbing in a Saskatoon motel parking lot.
Forensic identification officers said the items were discovered by a man on 29th Street West after Billy Johnston, 44, was stabbed in the Northwoods Inn parking lot on Idylwyld Drive.
The officers testified Tuesday at the second-degree murder trial of Alvin Patrick Junior Naistus. The 26-year-old is accused of attacking Johnston during an altercation on April 18, 2015. Johnston died from a stab wound to the chest, according to an agreed statement of facts tendered at trial.
Sgt. Mikael Ziola testified that a man said the knife had been propped up against a tree with the sheath about a metre away on the curb. The jury heard the man brought the items to the police station; the only fingerprint suitable for testing on the knife belonged to him.
Police seized the knife, which had blood on it, because it was believed to be related to the case, Sgt. Frank Parenteau testified.
Sean Rector, a security guard at the motel, testified that a “bald man” was being chased by a second man who he believed had a knife. The attacker took a swing at the bald man who then “collapsed like a tree,” Rector said.
A surveillance video shows Rector running toward an altercation between two men. One man lunges at the other, who backs away. They go out of frame and a man is then seen running back around the building.
Rector said it also looked like the bald man was holding scissors. A pair of surgical scissors were found
in the parking lot near Johnston’s body and swabs were taken from blood stains on each blade, Parenteau testified.
Crime scene photos show the scissors inside a plastic exhibit bag on the ground. Defence lawyer Patrick McDougall asked Parenteau and Ziola if they knew that another officer had taken the scissors and then put them back. Ziola said he was not aware; Parenteau said another officer told him the scissors had been handled before he arrived at the crime scene.