Stabbing in shower at Better Tent City was self-defence, court told
Man will be returned to Sault Ste. Marie on other charges
A man facing serious charges in a 2021 attack in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., stabbed a man in self-defence at A Better Tent City in Kitchener last month.
The man, 33, was in a locked shower unit at A Better Tent City on April 23 when his ex-girlfriend asked him to open the door, Kitchener court was told Wednesday.
When he complied, two men entered the shower unit and assaulted him.
Armed with a knife, he stabbed one of the men in the temple and lip.
“Both wounds were fairly deep and required stitches to close,” Crown prosecutor Lindsay Lubberdink told court. “Certainly the use of force that was used was excessive in the circumstances.”
The man, who had minor injuries to his face, told police he stabbed the assailant in self-defence.
He pleaded guilty to carrying a weapon for the purpose of committing a crime and failing to comply with a court order issued in Sault Ste. Marie.
In July 2021, the man was charged with aggravated assault and assault with a weapon after a man in Sault Ste. Marie was seriously injured after being struck in the head with a baseball bat, according to Sootoday.com.
The man was on house arrest waiting for those charges to be resolved when he stabbed the man in Kitchener. He was under conditions to live with his mother near Sault Ste. Marie and not to possess weapons.
The man came to Kitchener looking for work, defence lawyer Nicholas Gehl said. He lived at A Better Tent City, a community of small cabins for about 50 people who were previously homeless. It’s near the Waterloo Region District School Board office on Ardelt Avenue.
The man, who has no prior record, will apparently be brought back to Sault Ste. Marie to seek bail.
On the Kitchener charges, Gehl recommended a conditional discharge, which carries no conviction.
Justice Melanie Sopinka said a discharge would be contrary to the public interest and handed him a suspended sentence with a conviction. The man had been in jail since April 23. The judge ordered him to give a DNA sample and banned him from possessing weapons for five years.