DNA of accused in fatal stabbing found near crime scene
Forensic biologist says samples were taken from blood on door, in stairwell
The DNA of a Saskatoon man on trial for manslaughter was found in samples taken from the apartment building where Johnathon Keenatch-Lafond was fatally stabbed in 2014, according to a forensic biologist with the RCMP.
Dr. Greg Litzenberger testified on Friday that a DNA profile extracted from blood found on a door and in a stairwell matched a DNA sample from Keith Clarence Napope.
Napope, 31, is on trial at Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench, accused of robbing Keenatch-Lafond and contributing to his death on Nov. 17, 2014. Keenatch-Lafond died from a stab wound to the left side of his chest cavity after a group of masked men stormed into his apartment suite in the 1400 block of 20th Street West.
The victim’s DNA was also present in some of the blood samples that contained Napope’s DNA, Litzenberger told the jury. He said biological material tested from two areas of a T-shirt contained Napope’s DNA, while other areas of the shirt contained Keenatch-Lafond’s DNA.
Police indicated that the T-shirt was worn by the deceased, Litzenberger testified.
Testing cannot determine how or when DNA gets onto an object, Litzenberger said during crossexamination. He said people shed DNA at different rates and there are different ways it can be transferred. He described how a “secondary transfer” involves someone leaving their DNA on a person, who then transfers it to another surface.
Defence lawyer Brian Pfefferle used the example of someone having another’s person’s dried blood on their hands and then touching a third person, leaving the blood behind.
On Thursday, Pfefferle suggested the victim’s nephew, Tyrone Lafond, had robbed Napope the day Keenatch-Lafond was stabbed. Lafond testified he was in the apartment when his uncle was attacked, but Litzenberger said Lafond’s DNA was not found on the T-shirt sent for testing.
There have been circumstances in which someone’s DNA ended up on exhibits they never touched, Litzenberger told the jury. While he could not rule out the possibility that Napope’s DNA came from a secondary transfer, he said a direct transfer would be more likely.
Lafond testified that he saw one of his uncle’s attackers remove his face mask. He said he recognized the same man, later identified as Napope, at the St. Paul’s Hospital Tim Hortons. Video surveillance played for the jury shows Napope and Lafond were at the hospital during the same time period, two months after Keenatch-Lafond was killed.