Victim of stabbing says he was drunk

Surveillance video played at an attempted murder and seconddegree murder trial in Saskatoon shows four people gathered outside the Blue Diamond restaurant, their hoods up in the tense January air.

It was 12:24 a.m. on New Year’s Day 2013.

A woman held a man back before he lunged at one of two men standing in the parking lot.

On the witness stand in Court of Queen’s Bench, Cole McKay identified himself on the video and said the man — a stranger — “punched or stabbed” him that night.

McKay testified on Tuesday at the jury trial of Raven Don Constant, 23, who is accused of stabbing three men a total of 30 times in the span of five minutes.

One of those men, 28-year-old Jonathan Moosewaypayo, died after he was stabbed 18 times outside an Avenue O apartment across the street from the Blue Diamond.

The Crown’s theory is that McKay, who was 19 at the time, and his 17-year-old friend were attacked first.

McKay said he was near blackout drunk at the restaurant and didn’t realize he had been stabbed in his collar bone until he returned to a friend’s apartment.

Defence lawyer Kevin Hill asked him if he remembered telling police, the day after the stabbing, that he had actually been stabbed before going to the Blue Diamond.

“I thought this happened,” McKay replied

Hill suggested it was police who told him he had been stabbed at the restaurant.

McKay disagreed, saying he’s “pretty sure” he was stabbed there.

However, he admitted having a limited memory and said he could have been stabbed earlier in the night.

On re-examination from the Crown, he confirmed he was only stabbed once, and that his police statement changed after he saw the surveillance video.