Accused killer tells murder trial he stabbed Halifax woman by accident
Nicholas Butcher says he fatally stabbed Montreal-born yoga instructor Kristin Johnston by accident, and then tried to kill himself by cutting off his hand with a mitre saw.
Butcher, testifying Friday at his second-degree murder trial, said the pair had been sleeping in a bed inside her Halifax-area home on March 26, 2016, when he awoke to someone stabbing him in the throat with a knife.
He said it was dark and he couldn’t see who it was, but he flipped the attacker over, grabbed the knife and stabbed them.
“I reached over and I turned on the lamp, and the person that was beneath me was Kristin and she was dead,” a visibly distraught Butcher told the 14-member jury in Nova Scotia Supreme Court.
“I just killed her by accident, just not even knowing what’s going on.”
Butcher said he then tried to slit his wrist with the knife.
“I thought to myself, ‘I have to die, too. I can’t live having killed someone,”’ said Butcher, wearing a navy suit, white collared shirt and navy tie.
He said that didn’t work, so he went to the bathroom, retrieved a razor blade and cut both wrists and laid down “to die.”
Butcher said it felt like an “eternity,” so he used the mitre saw to cut off his right hand.
He said he fell unconscious, and when he woke up, “I could feel my hand, but it wasn’t there.”
The 36-year-old law school graduate testified that at one point he was moving toward the phone to call 911, but he said his mind was telling him to die.
The jury has heard that Butcher called 911 and told the dispatcher he had killed his girlfriend, tried to kill himself and had cut off his hand.
Butcher told the jury his struggle with Johnston was brief.
“It was so quick. It happened so fast,” he said.
The trial has heard that Butcher and Johnston, 32, were in a relationship and were living together. However, the jury also heard Johnston broke up with him hours before her death.
Friends testified that Johnston was visiting Michael Belyea’s residence with Lisa Abramowicz on the night before she died, when Butcher unexpectedly appeared in the doorway.
Abramowicz testified that Johnston had obtained Belyea’s address only a few hours earlier, and had no idea how Butcher knew she was there. She said the three surmised that Butcher had looked at Johnston’s Facebook messages.
Belyea told the jury that Johnston ended her relationship with Butcher that night, after a conversation with him outside of Belyea’s apartment.
Court heard that when Butcher returned to Belyea’s a second time, he found Belyea and Johnston kissing. Belyea said he left the flat to let them talk and when he returned, Butcher and Johnston were gone.
Butcher offered a different story Friday.
He said he was turning off music that was playing on Johnston’s laptop when he happened to see messages on her Facebook page from a man whose name he didn’t recognize – Belyea.
The last message was from Johnston, indicating she had arrived at Belyea’s place. Butcher said he found it “strange” because Johnston had told him earlier that she was off to bed at Abramowicz’s place.
He said he saw an address in the messages, and assumed they had gone to a party.
“I decided to stop by and see what was going on,” said Butcher.
Butcher confirmed that he went to Belyea’s apartment, where he said Johnston kept repeating she was “too drunk to talk.”
“She said to me that Lisa was interested in Mike romantically,” said Butcher, adding that Johnston told him she was going to finish her drink and go back to Abramowicz’s place.
She gave him a kiss and told him she loved him, he said.
After he left, Butcher said he decided to wait in his car near Belyea’s apartment in case Johnston needed a ride.
One hour later, Abramowicz came out alone, he said.
Butcher said he attempted to call Johnston three times, but the call went to voicemail. He said he became concerned that Belyea was “taking advantage” of her, so he decided to investigate.
Butcher said when he walked into the shared entrance of the two-unit home, the door to Belyea’s upper flat was wide open.
“About halfway up the stairs, I heard Kristin moaning,” he said.
He said he walked into the apartment, where he found Belyea on top of Johnston in a bedroom. Butcher said Johnston told him she didn’t want to leave. He said he “wasn’t leaving without her.”
On the drive home, Butcher said Johnston was initially upset, yelling at him and calling him names. But she then “flipped” and started crying and saying he didn’t deserve the way she treated him.
Once they arrived at her home, he said she became angry again and went into the bathroom and closed the door.
“I remember thinking, ‘This isn’t Kristin.’ I remember almost being afraid,” he said.
But when they both went to bed, she was crying and apologizing, he said. They cuddled and then he fell sleep, he said.
When he woke up, someone was stabbing him in the throat, Butcher said.
Police found Johnston’s body on a blood-soaked bed next to a steak knife.