Accepting the story of the victim over that of the attacker, a B.C. Supreme Court Justice has found Johnathon Riely Nicholls guilty of attacking another man with a knife in a Prince George apartment building.
Brandon Rommann, 26, who had been left with several serious injuries from the April 23, 2011 attack, had identified Nicholls as the culprit. But Nicholls had claimed he was a victim of mistaken identity and was actually at Rommann's apartment earlier in the day to buy marijuana only to be turned away because he had no cash.
However, in reaching his verdict Friday at the Prince George courthouse, Justice John Savage found holes and inconsistencies in Nicholls' testimony, among them his allegation that Rommann was a large-volume marijuana dealer and could not be trusted.
"But according to his [Nicholls'] evidence, he saw him every two weeks to buy marijuana," Savage noted and added police found no evidence of trafficking paraphernalia at Rommann's apartment.
Savage also found Nicholls changed his story in mid-testimony when quizzed about his claim he had gone to a Prince George car wash where he had been working to pick up a paycheque. Told it was unusual to do so on a Monday, Nicholls then said it was his last cheque as he had recently quit the job because he was tired of going home cold and wet.
Moreover, Savage dismissed Nicholls' assertion he was wearing shorts and a T-shirt that day - as opposed to the hoodie and jeans Rommann had asserted - concluding it was still quite cold at that time of year.
And Savage noted Nicholls himself admitted he was hard to mistake given his large size.
In contrast, Savage found Rommann's evidence credible and consistent with the evidence police had found at the crime scene shortly after the incident.
And although not well known to each other - Rommann said he knew Nicholls only by his nickname "Tiny" - Savage found they were familiar enough through a local business they both worked at part-time for Rommann to recognize Nicholls.
On Thursday, Rommann had testified that Nicholls had come for a visit because of a shared interest in pet snakes and reptiles and had shown up with two soft drinks from a nearby fast food restaurant.
They smoked a joint of marijuana and talked about reptiles for awhile. At about the time Rommann had to leave, Nicholls - who had no vehicle and walked everywhere - said he realized he forgot his wallet at the restaurant.
Romann said he offered Nicholls a ride, chuckled about the wallet, grabbed his keys, went to the door and started to put his shoes on. Then he felt Nicholls put him in a bear hug from behind and then felt a hit to the side of his head and two to his back below his shoulder.
Rommann managed to wrestle around so he was looking upwards and saw a knife with a three-inch blade in Nicholls' raised right hand. Romman said he was unable to push Nicholls off him because of his size, but Nicholls eventually relented after Rommann started asking him why he was doing this.
Rommann got out of the apartment and found the apartment block's manager, who rushed him to hospital, while Nicholls took off, the court heard. Nicholls was arrested later that night at his home.
Nicholls will remain out on bail while a pre-sentence report is prepared, partly to determine his motive for the attack.
