Accused pulled knife out of arm to kill assailant, court hears
Man pleads guilty to manslaughter in stabbing death after argument
A 26-year-old Montreal man has pleaded guilty to manslaughter after admitting he pulled a knife out of his own arm during a drunken downtown brawl and used it to kill the man who stabbed him.
Kenneth Oteng entered the plea at the Montreal courthouse on Tuesday in the death of Antony StJean Lamothe, 24, on May 14, 2017.
Two men who were with him at the time pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of aggravated assault.
While Oteng remains detained, the two others — Benjamin Gourd-Morris, 21, and Jeremiah Owusu, 22 — are free until Quebec Court Justice François Dadour makes a decision on their sentences at a later date.
According to a statement of facts read into the court record by prosecutor Laurent-Alexandre Duclos Bélanger, the victim was killed following an argument between two groups of men that started after Bar BLVD44 on St-Laurent Boulevard had closed after 3 a.m.
“All of the protagonists were intoxicated to some degree by alcohol,” Bélanger said.
Lamothe’s group included his brother and a man named Yves-Roby Pharaon, 23, who pulled a knife while the men argued outside the bar.
“On the victim’s side, Yves-Roby Pharaon was the person who appeared to be the most aggressive, as was demonstrated” in images captured on a surveillance camera, Bélanger said.
The argument continued as both groups moved toward Sherbrooke Street and at one point, Oteng removed his shirt and his jacket and was naked from the waist up while he shouted at the other group.
According to witnesses, at that point Oteng and Lamothe became the most aggressive among the eight men. Pharaon was not charged in the stabbing, but his knife somehow ended up in Lamothe’s hands.
Lamothe stabbed Oteng in the left arm, and the knife remained stuck there until Oteng pulled it out and pursued Lamothe and his brother as they tried to flee.
Oteng stabbed Lamothe once and then continued to pursue him. When he caught up to him again, at the intersection of Clark and Sherbrooke streets, he stabbed him four more times.
Owusu and Gourd-Morris admitted Tuesday they assaulted Lamothe after he had been stabbed the first time, but both said they were unaware Oteng had a knife during the fight.
Bélanger noted no one from either group called for an ambulance. Instead, a witness to the start of the fight alerted police. Officers arrived five minutes later and found Lamothe after he had been stabbed.
Lamothe was taken to the Montreal General Hospital by ambulance. He died shortly after 4 a.m.
An autopsy revealed he was drunk at the time of the stabbing, and traces of methamphetamine and cannabis were found in his blood.
Gourd-Morris and Owusu were arrested at Notre-Dame Hospital, where Owusu sought treatment for an injury to his hand he sustained during the fight.
Oteng surrendered to police on May 16, 2017. Police noted a five-centimetre scar on his arm that had been closed with stitches.
The case returns to court in late June for a sentencing hearing.