The victim of a stabbing during a birthday party gone wrong initially thought he had been punched in the back, a trial for the man accused of wielding the knife heard Tuesday, but knew it was more serious when he saw blood on his hand.
Bryce Raymond Cote, 22, is accused of stabbing two people during a fight outside a Hart area home on Oct. 19, 2012. He faces two counts each of aggravated assault and assault with a weapon and one count of possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose from an alleged Oct. 19, 2012 incident.
Testifying Tuesday, Chris Brade, 37, said he lived two doors away from the Minotti Drive home where a birthday party was being celebrated in the back yard. Brade said he heard noise but became concerned when he heard the girl's mother screaming.
He went outside to see if she was OK and saw a "whole bunch of kids out front" and helped in asking the group to leave, estimating there were 12 to 20 at the end of the driveway and scattered along the street.
"I just went in there calm and just said 'everybody leave, she wants you off the property, let's just call it a night,'" Brade said. "I just went in there with a positive [demeanour], just trying to solve the problem, not with anger."
A taxi pulled up and a few got into the cab while others also started to disperse, Brade said, but he then noticed three of them throwing punches and kicks at another lying on the ground at the head of a driveway beyond the Sauls' property.
Brade, who is a large man, went over, grabbed two of them by their shirts from behind and pulled them off. Then he felt what he thought was someone punching him from behind, but then felt "blood and warmth down there."
"It was almost like getting electrified," Brade said when asked to elaborate. "I said it was a punch but it seemed to go right through me. I knew it was more than a punch at that point but it felt like somebody just hit me really hard in the kidneys."
Brade said he noticed blood on his hand after feeling the spot then turned around to see who the attacker was and saw a "kid" wearing a red hoodie standing about two feet away with a knife in his right hand. The person, who Brade identified in court as Cote, flicked the knife's blade back, put it in his pocket and ran away, he testified.
It was dark out but Brade said his eyes had adjusted.
As he made his way back to the Sauls' house, Brade said he made a point of letting everyone know "that the guy in the red hoodie stabbed me."
"I mentioned it over and over so people knew that I was stabbed and who had stabbed me," Brade said.
Brade said he was taken by ambulance to hospital where he stayed for five days.
The court also heard testimony from the other person who was stabbed that night. Robert Stewart, 17, who also went by the name Eric Kelly, said he had been drinking with friends at another home before they went to the party where he said he continued to drink beer and hard liquor before he and his friends decided to leave.
For reasons unknown, Stewart said Dylan Forbes started punching him while out on the home's driveway and he ended up in the ditch. When he got back up, Forbes persisted.
"I just threw my hands up and said I didn't want to fight and he kept punching me so I pushed him over," Forbes said.
Stewart reached the middle of the road but Forbes continued his attack and two others - Cote and another party attendee, Jason Morgan - joined in, Stewart said, and he found himself on all fours on the ground being beaten.
Stewart said he then noticed Brade holding his side and, with the three no longer attacking him, he ran up the road with his friends. They met the RCMP at the corner and told them someone had been hurt and continued on.
About 10 minutes later, one of his friends noticed he was bleeding from his lower, right side so he stopped and sat down. But they then made their way to a friend's home where the ambulance was called. Stewart was taken to hospital where he stayed for two weeks.
Stewart said he did not know who stabbed him, only that he was bleeding a lot and was vomiting while waiting for the ambulance to arrive.
Other witnesses variously said there was drinking and was not drinking at the party. One, Adam Quinn, said that during the party Cote, Morgan and a Brandon Wilson all pulled out knives to show the others.
Cote had a black switchblade with a three-inch blade, Wilson had a black switchblade and Morgan had a Buck knife he was carrying in a pouch on his belt, Quinn said.
Other than noticing some pushing between Forbes and Stewart near a cab that had been called to the scene and Brade holding his back side, Quinn said he didn't see much because it was dark out.
