'I knew she was going to kill me': Woman accused of killing Wolseley neighbour testifies at murder trial

Brenda Schuff told a jury in a Winnipeg courtroom Tuesday that her neighbour, Judy Kenny, attacked her while holding a knife on the night Kenny was killed in her Wolseley home.

"I knew she was going to kill me. I just wanted to get out of there," Schuff said. 

Schuff, 46, was charged with second-degree murder after Kenny, 54, was found dead in the early hours of April 10, 2017.

Wearing a white and black striped A-line dress, her long blond hair pulled off her face in ponytail, Schuff testified in her own defence. 

'Uneventful' evening turns deadly 

Schuff told the court that Kenny had invited her into her home for a drink after Schuff went outside to help her look for a lost dog.

It had been an uneventful evening with her family, and Schuff was up watching a movie on TV when she heard someone calling for a dog. At first, Schuff said she didn't think anything of it, and kept watching the movie. 

But after hearing the calls again, Schuff said she decided to go outside and see if she could help. 

She ran into a woman close by. At the time, Schuff said she didn't know who she was. Today, she said she knows that woman was Judy Kenny. 

Kenny told her the dog was a six-month-old puppy, and that she was worried about it. After looking for the dog for about 10 to 15 minutes, Schuff said she suggested Kenny should call 311. A recording of that call was played in court last week.

The jury heard last week that Kenny had been babysitting a puppy for her friend, Charles Gulay, the same dog Kenny called 311 about at some point after midnight. However, Gulay testified that he went to Kenny's house at around 11 p.m. to pick up his dog the night she was killed.

The accused said Tuesday that Kenny invited her into her home to have a drink while she called. 

"I had nothing better to do so I agreed," Schuff told the court. 

After visiting for about an hour and a half, Schuff said Kenny got angry at her when she went to the bathroom. 

"I was up there, and I can hear her, 'What are you doing, what are you doing? What's taking so long?'" Schuff said.

Confrontation 'instantly escalated' 

At that point, Schuff said she told Kenny she was going to go home, but Kenny insisted that she stay. 

After taking a long sigh, Schuff told court Kenny became unhinged and violent when she tried to leave for a second time. 

"I put my hand on her shoulder, and I told her, I'm leaving, and she turned, and put her hand on my hand and said, 'You're not going anywhere,'" she told the jury. 

"I thought she was joking, and I said, 'What are you talking about?'" 

She said Kenny then clamped down on her hand, gripping it, and started making a chomping motion at her with her teeth. 

Schuff imitated the motion in court, tilting her head to the side, and biting the air with her teeth. 

"I didn't know what was going on, I just wanted to leave," she said. 

The confrontation "instantly escalated," and soon the two women were pushing each other, Schuff told the court. 

Then, Schuff said Kenny was "flailing her arms around," and she could see that Kenny had a knife in her hand. 

Putting her hand over her mouth as she started to cry, Schuff said she thought Kenny was going to try to kill her.

Accused's memory 'went dark' 

Schuff said she can remember punching Kenny in the forehead, but her memory of the events following that is blank.

"Everything flickered and went dark." 

The next thing she remembers is standing in her kitchen, with her husband Rob in front of her. 

She doesn't remember stabbing Kenny, she told the jury. Though she's tried to jog her memory by looking at crime scene photos, she says there are parts of the night she can't recall. 

"The last thing I remember, is Judy having a knife in her hand, and thinking, I have to fight. That's all I can remember," she said.  

Last week, the jury was told that Kenny was found on the kitchen floor in her Wolseley home, lying on her back with several "significant" stab wounds to her chest, and a knife in her head.

Const. Susan Roy-Hageman, a Winnipeg police identification officer, told the court that Kenny didn't have a lot of defensive wounds that would be consistent with someone who was trying to fight off her attacker. 

A toxicology report showed Kenny's blood alcohol concentration that night was four times the legal driving limit, and that she was on a combination of anti-depressants and a sleeping aid, court heard earlier in the trial. 

Crown prosecutors Debbie Buors and Theresa Cannon are set to cross examine Schuff in court Wednesday morning.