Teen confessed to fatally stabbing Brett Bourne at Kelvin High School, trial hears
'I got him,' accused allegedly told friend
A teen accused of fatally stabbing Brett Bourne inside Winnipeg's Kelvin High School told a friend "I got him," minutes after the June 2015 attack, a jury was told Wednesday.
The now 19-year-old accused has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the killing of the 17-year-old Bourne.
On Wednesday, another now 19-year-old former student told the court he was driving away from the school with the accused, and three other teens — including a boy with whom Bourne had been fighting — when the accused allegedly said "I got him."
He said 'I think I stabbed him.' He patted his side and said, 'I don't think I got his lung.'- Witness
"I asked him, 'What do you mean?' and he said, 'I think I stabbed him.' He patted his side and said, 'I don't think I got his lung,'" the 19-year-old witness told the court.
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.
The man testifying Wednesday — who was under 18 at the time of the stabbing and cannot be identified by name under terms of a publication ban — said he was outside the school with friends, including the accused, when he saw Bourne across the street, taunting from afar the teen he would later fight.
"He was standing across the street, trying to look intimidating, puffing out his chest and yelling at [the other teen]," the 19-year-old witness said.
"Everyone was talking about how Brett probably had a weapon on him," he said.
The man said he and the accused left to move the man's car and retrieve a knife "if things went sideways."
The man said he showed the accused a folding knife and thought he had returned it to its sheath before they exited the car and returned to the school.
The man said Bourne chased the other teen into school, followed by several other students.
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"I slowly made my way into school and saw Brett on top of [the other teen] and they were kind of fighting," he said.
"Teachers came in saying, 'Break it up, break it up,' and I went down into the basement.… I didn't want to get in trouble for being a bystander at a fight."
The man said he did not notice the accused inside the school and did not see a weapon.
The man said he was walking to his car when the accused, the teen Bourne had been fighting and two other students asked for a ride "to get away from the situation."
After disclosing he had stabbed Bourne, the accused pulled the folding knife from his pocket and wiped blood from its blade, the man testified.
"I panicked and went on autopilot and drove to my dad's house," the man said.
At the house, the accused used a utility knife he found in the home to cut his forearm, the man said.
"He said it was to make it look like Brett attacked him," and said "that it should be deep," the witness said.
The trial, which began Oct. 23, is set for four weeks and is expected to hear testimony from several student witnesses.