Accused in Kelvin homicide admits to stabbing, says he feared Brett Bourne would stab other teen

A Winnipeg man on trial for killing 17-year-old Brett Bourne at Kelvin High School has admitted to stabbing the victim, telling a jury Friday he feared Bourne was about to stab a friend he was fighting.

"I didn't have time to think when I stabbed Brett," the now 20-year-old accused said of the June 2, 2015 incident. "I was just trying to get him off [the other teen]."

The accused, who cannot be identified because he was still a youth at the time of the killing, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder. 

Bourne, 17, died from a single stab wound to his chest after allegedly instigating a fight with a teen who had been dating Bourne's ex-girlfriend.

Court has heard Bourne, a former student at the school, had tried for several minutes to goad the other teen off school grounds to fight. 

The accused testified he watched the exchange with several other students, some of whom, including Bourne's ex-girlfriend, speculated Bourne might be armed with a knife.

"The tension [rose] a lot more," the accused said. "I got a lot more scared and [the teen Bourne wanted to fight] got a lot more scared."

The accused said he retrieved a folding knife from another friend's car and offered it to the other teen for protection.

By that time "it felt like it was going to blow over and he said 'Not right now, I think everything is going to be fine,'" the accused said. 

That's when Bourne bolted toward the teen and chased him inside the school. The accused and several other students followed them inside.

"I saw Brett on top of [the other teen], with his hand at the back of his head, trying to smash it," the accused said. "Then I saw Brett reaching [into his pocket] for a knife. Everybody thought he had a knife. That's when I unfolded the knife, ran up to Brett and stabbed him.

"I told [the other teen] to get out of there," the accused said. "I was scared for his life. Brett had just tried to kill him."

The accused admitted he never saw Bourne with a knife.

The accused said after the fight, he and his friend were driven to another friend's house where he used a boxcutter knife to cut his forearm. 

The accused later told police he had sustained the wound intervening in the fight.

Under cross-examination, the teen admitted he lied several times to police, telling officers for example that he drove to a friend's house to clean a cut to his arm when he hadn't been injured. 

"I was not telling them the entire truth," he said. "I should have been more honest with them."

Crown attorney Erika Dolcetti questioned why the accused didn't think to call 911 or a teacher instead of taking matters into his own hands.

"It didn't even occur to me at the time," he said.