Trial starts into fatal stabbing at motel
The night Billy Johnston died in the parking lot of the Northwoods Inn, he was involved in a confrontation that left him stabbed in the head and heart.
Johnston had been inside a motel room with Alvin Patrick Junior Naistus, who followed him outside, pursued and stabbed him, a Crown prosecutor said during opening statements to the jury at Naistus’ second-degree murder trial on Monday in Saskatoon.
The 26-year-old is accused of fatally stabbing Johnston, 44, on April 18, 2015. Crown prosecutor Jennifer Claxton-Viczko said the case is about “getting mad and getting even.”
Carol Cote, who was at the Northwoods Inn when Johnston was stabbed, testified that drug addicts frequented the motel. She said she would sometimes use hydromorphone with Johnston and recognized his voice when she heard yelling early that morning.
A cellphone video she took from the motel’s second level shows two men facing off in the parking lot and one man, who Cote identified as Johnston, backing away. When the men come back into frame, Johnston can be seen falling down; the other man runs away.
During cross-examination by the defence, Cote said she didn’t know the identity of the second man in her video. She testified that she did not see either man holding any weapons but saw scissors on the ground when she got near Johnston’s body.
The first police officer at the scene told court the motel was the most “crime riddled” spot in Saskatoon at that time, involving mostly assault and drug-related offences.
Const. Blake Atkinson said he saw Johnston fall to the ground when he responded to a call about an injured man around 6:30 that morning. He said another man was nearby, but he did not speak to him or see what he looked like.
Atkinson said he initially noticed a stab wound on the left side of Johnston’s chest, and later saw a cut on his head after they arrived at the hospital where Johnston was pronounced dead.
The trial is scheduled for 15 days. The Crown expects to call 22 witnesses.