On Wednesday, a woman testified that she was scared for her life last summer when two men with machetes chased her down a Prince Albert street.
At the time, the 21-year-old victim was in a troubled relationship with 36-year-old Raymond Knife.
Knife was on trial on Wednesday for confining, assaulting, uttering death threats, and assaulting that woman with a machete, but the Crown prosecutor, Cindy Alexander, says she’s not seeking conviction for all the charges.
The reason she’s not pushing guilty verdicts on all charges is because the victim isn’t able to nail down specifics of the week where she and Knife were staying at his sister’s place in Prince Albert.
On the stand, the victim described Knife and her getting high on crystal meth, dealing crystal meth, and arguing – saying at one point he pushed her down and took her cell phones away.
She testified that Knife grew scarier and more controlling the more they fought. The woman says Knife threatened to cut her head off with a machete, and she eventually bolted from the apartment to the nearby South Hill Medical Clinic to get away.
In closing arguments, defense lawyer Dale Blenner-Hassett questioned the reliability of the victim’s story, which he says has not been corroborated by any other facts.
The victim has stated that when she gave her first statements to police she hadn’t been using her medication for major depression, hadn’t slept in a week, and had used meth the same day.
Because of that, Blenner-Hassett said her perception of events might not match reality.
She’s one of only two witnesses who testified at Knife’s trial. The other witness is Constable Terry Epp, a police officer that responded to the complainant’s call, which was made from a clinic.
The woman testified she made the call after running away from the home where she’d been staying with Knife. She said three men – Knife and two of his cousins – chased after her, and that Knife and one of those cousins were angrily yelling at her as they held up machetes.
In closing arguments, Alexander said she wants Knife to be found guilty of common assault, breaches, uttering threats, and for using a machete to threaten the woman’s life.
Alexander maintains that the woman is straightforward in her testimony and doesn’t hold any ill will towards Knife.
Knife has been in custody since August, and previously pled guilty to contacting the woman while in prison, as well as some breaches. He received four months and four days for that.
The ruling will come in late April.