Fatal stab wound pierced victim's heart: medical examiner
Blood found on the knife entered as evidence in the second-degree murder trial of a Charlottetown woman belonged to Kent David Gallant.
Charlottetown Police forensic identification officer Const. Steve Currie told the jury a partial fingerprint on the knife remains unidentified.
The officer returned to the witness stand following the testimony of Dr. Matthew Bowes, the chief medical examiner in Nova Scotia. He had performed the autopsy on Gallant July 13, 2014.
Bowes told the jury that the fatal stab wound pierced the victim's heart.
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Gallant, 45, was found on the front lawn of a house on Brows Lane on July 11, 2014 at around 9:30 p.m.
An 18-year-old woman is on trial for second degree murder. Because she was 17 at the time of the offence, her name is subject to a publication ban.
Defence lawyer Trish Cheverie has told the court the woman stabbed the victim once in the shoulder in self-defence because Gallant had tried to sexually assault her.
She pleaded not guilty in December and has been in custody since she was arrested.
Jury watches police video of crime scene
The jury watched a video police took of the lower apartment in the duplex where Gallant was stabbed.
Currie said it was "uncommonly tidy" for a crime scene.
The police video showed traces of where Gallant's blood was found in the apartment and outside.
The officer testified police found $1.75 on Gallant's body. Earlier testimony revealed Gallant had withdrawn $2,300 from the bank on the morning of July 11.
Autopsy results showed Gallant had cocaine, cannabis and alcohol in his system. Bowes told the jury Gallant would have been legally impaired that evening.
Bowes testified Gallant bled to death internally. He said the stab wound to the chest was the sole cause of death.
He said other wounds -- one in each shoulder and one in the left forearm -- were not life-threatening.
Bowes testified a wound to the victim's left forearm was unique because it had barely bled. The medical examiner testified it was inflicted when Kent Gallant was dead or close to it.
The medical examiner told the jury Gallant would still be able to walk and move around for a few minutes after being stabbed in the heart.
He offered the opinion that Kent Gallant could have been stabbed inside the duplex apartment on Brows Lane, then stumbled outside, through the yard and across street, where he collapsed, as crown prosecutor Valerie Moore contends.
He suggested the bloodless arm wound was caused accidentally as the dying man stumbled.
Defence offers theory for wounds
Under cross-examination by defence lawyer Trish Cheverie, Bowes said it is possible some wounds were inflicted inside the apartment, and some in the yard outside.
He also testified under cross-examination, that the bloodless wound to the forearm could have been caused by someone who "just walked up" and stabbed the dead body.
The defence contends those scenarios support the allegation of the young woman that she stabbed Gallant only once -- in the shoulder because he tried to sexually assault her -- and someone else inflicted the fatal wound to the heart.
When asked to examine a knife that has been entered into evidence, Bowes said, "It could be the knife that pierced the heart ... I cannot exclude it."
While on the stand, the medical examiner apologized to the five woman and seven men on the jury for requiring them to look at the autopsy photos of Gallant.
Justice Wayne Cheverie has said this trial will resume Monday, April 13. Several people who were in the apartment that night are expected to testify.
