The lawyer for one of the men accused in a machete attack on a resident of a Prince George motel in August 2022 told a B.C. Supreme Court judge on Thursday, Jan. 30 that his client acted in self-defence.
Dakota Rayn Keewatin, 31, and Kerridge Andrew Lowley, 49, were charged with break and enter and aggravated assault after the Aug. 11, 2022 incident at the Econo Lodge City Centre Inn. Victim Arlen Chalifoux required extensive emergency surgery to repair serious injuries to his right arm.
In the second day of closing arguments, Jason LeBlond told Justice John Gibb-Carsley that Keewatin knocked on Chalifoux’s room 255 door and waited to be let in, only to be met with violence.
“He was, on the opening of the door by Mr. Chalifoux, immediately assaulted, bear-sprayed in the face at extremely close range,” LeBlond said. “So Mr. Keewatin’s entry into the room was not at all for the purpose of committing an offence or for the purpose of simply trying to get into the room for some nefarious reasons. The entry into the room by Mr. Keewatin was necessitated by the act of Mr. Chalifoux in deploying the bear spray to him.”
LeBlond also said Chalifoux used the bear spray in an effort to take the machete from Keewatin.
“There was little option that Mr. Keewatin had but to attempt to try to deprive Mr. Chalifoux of the bear spray and of the machete,” LeBlond said. “That he had a limited ability to measure the amount of force required to overcome his attacker. This will be because of the impairment of vision and he'd entered a darkened room.”
Closing arguments began Tuesday, Jan. 28 with Crown prosecutor Andrea Norlund arguing that surveillance camera footage and Chalifoux’s testimony were enough to find the two men guilty beyond reasonable doubt. Norlund said the “only reasonable conclusion” is that Keewatin and Lowley were the same people who entered Chalifoux’s room and participated in the assault.
The two accused men chose not to testify in their defence during the evidence phase of the trial, which ended Dec. 5. In Keewatin’s case, LeBlond said, that “shouldn't be interpreted to his disadvantage.”
Instead, he urged Gibb-Carsley to find the key Crown witness’s testimony unreliable.
LeBlond said Chalifoux was selling drugs from the hotel room and he admitted under cross-examination to being drunk, high and paranoid on Aug. 11, 2022. On the witness stand, he “demonstrated to be a very poor historian” and admitted to misleading police for fear that he would be deemed in violation of his parole.
Additionally, LeBlond pointed to Chalifoux’s criminal record, which includes a nine-year prison sentence for manslaughter. It was while serving time in a federal institution that he met Keewatin.
“It's a criminal record that is significant because it fairly clearly lays out what Mr. Chalifoux is capable of,” LeBlond said.
Closing arguments continue Jan. 31 in Prince George.
