‘I’m an idiot. I did it’: Man admits fatal stabbing

Two friends drank vodka, smoked marijuana, and discussed religion before killing

A Hamilton man who pleaded guilty to manslaughter this week for stabbing his childhood friend told police arriving at the gruesome and bloody scene last year “I’m an idiot. I did it …”

The admission was part of an agreed statement of facts read in court Tuesday by assistant Crown attorney Jill McKenzie.

Robert Vandyk pleaded not guilty moments earlier to seconddegree murder — but guilty of manslaughter in the Oct. 6, 2016 death of Marcel Chartrand, 31.

Court heard Vandyk, 34, stabbed him once in the chest with a throwing knife.

It happened during an argument while three boys slept inside an apartment at 526 King St. E. that Chartrand shared with common-law wife Ashley Stewart, their son, and her children from her first marriage.

Chartrand had invited Vandyk to stay with them as long as he needed after he was forced to leave a Good Shepherd shelter about a month earlier, court heard.

“They had been friends since they were young children and each considered the other to be like a brother,” McKenzie said.

On Oct. 5 into Oct. 6, the two men drank vodka, smoked marijuana, and discussed religion after the children — boys aged 1, 5 and 7 — went to bed.

“Both of them felt they were the better man and the discussion escalated when Robert Vandyk started poking Marcel in the chest, and Marcel responded back and stated he knew pressure points, Tae Kwon Do, and could kill Robert.”

The two poked, jabbed and wrapped their arms around each other’s neck before separating. Vandyk went to the living room where he slept and kept his belongings.

Chartrand and his wife then argued until their one-year-old woke up and Stewart went into the children’s room.

The men started yelling at each other, and when Steward came out of the room, they were fighting in the hallway where Chartrand buckled and fell against the wall before moving to the front door.

Chartrand collapsed on the front porch, bleeding profusely from a knife embedded in his chest.

Vandyk waited and when police arrived, told them that he was an idiot and that he stabbed Chartrand out of fear. At the time, he was prohibited from possessing weapons for life.

Chartrand’s wife, brother and an aunt were in court on Tuesday for the guilty plea and sobbed as the facts were read into the record.

Vandyk also pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily harm for beating a Hamilton jail cell mate on Feb. 13, sending him to hospital with broken ribs and a collapsed lung. He also pleaded guilty to a breach of probation.

His lawyer, Asgar Manek, requested a Gladue report be done before Justice Stephen Glithero sentences him.

A Gladue report applies to Indigenous offenders and contains recommendations to the court. It also includes information about a person’s background.

Vandyk is scheduled to be back in court for his sentencing on Jan. 25.