Côte-des-Neiges man denies he celebrated fatal stabbing
A Côte-des-Neiges resident on trial for murdering his neighbour denies he celebrated the fatal stabbing by going to a nearby pub.
Amalan Thandapanithesigar, 37, began crying on Monday while being cross-examined in his firstdegree murder trial at the Montreal courthouse. Earlier in the day, the accused admitted he stabbed his neighbour, Jeyarasan Manikarasa, 40, in a fit of drunken anger.
Thandapanithesigar said he was standing on the balcony of his apartment on Mountain Sights Ave. when Manikarasa hurled a series of insults his way, including a vulgar reference to the word vagina used in their shared Sri Lankan language.
The victim was killed on June 23, 2014. He was stabbed six times in an alley and was left to die.
The accused said he grabbed a knife before leaving his apartment and headed off to confront Manikarasa about the insults.
He said he fought with the victim, and was punched and kicked in the face. He also said that at one point Manikarasa managed to take his knife away from him. But, he said, he grabbed it back and stabbed his neighbour a few times.
He said he had difficulty recalling details of the fight because he was drunk before it began.
Prosecutor Dennis Galiatsatos then had the court replay three videos that captured what happened after the victim was stabbed.
A security camera inside a Petro Canada station on Décarie Blvd. (near the Gibeau Orange Julep) captured images of Thandapanithesigar as he calmly walked in, opened a beer fridge, reached to the top shelf and appeared to carefully select a Blue Dry brand tall can of beer.
He is then seen purchasing the beer and collecting his change with no signs of being impaired.
The next video was recorded by a security camera inside Pub Paré, also on Décarie Blvd., where Thandapanithesigar was seen ordering a beer at the bar and then asking for a paper towel to wipe blood from his injured knuckles.
“Didn’t you go to Pub Paré to celebrate that you had killed (Manikarasa),” Galiatsatos asked at one point.
“No. At the time I did not even know he was dead. I knew I had stabbed him. I never thought he was dead,” Thandapanithesigar said as he began crying.
Galiatsatos also asked the accused if he went to the gas station and the pub to “enjoy a few beers” in full anticipation that he would be arrested soon. “No. It wasn’t like that,” the accused replied.
Galiatsatos’s questions also suggested the dispute between the men actually started a few days before Manikarasa was killed.
The trial began on April 6 and the jury has heard evidence that Manikarasa had upset Thandapanithesigar’s wife by flirting with her. A few days before the stabbing, Manikarasa approached the accused’s wife while he was on a bike and placed the front wheel in between her legs while they spoke.
The victim and the accused knew each other in Sri Lanka before they immigrated to Canada (Thandapanithesigar came to Canada in 2001), but they were not friends.
Thandapanithesigar admitted he became angry when his wife recounted what had happened.
But, he added, it was Manikarasa’s insults on the day of the stabbing that set him off.
The trial resumes Tuesday.