Peter Kingwatsiak trial: accused testifies he blacked out during killing

In an Iqaluit courtroom filled with the victim's family and onlookers, Peter Kingwatsiak told his version of what happened the morning he killed Mappaluk Adla in Cape Dorset, Nunavut.

Kingwatsiak took the stand Wednesday to defend himself in his own murder trial. He's also charged with breaking and entering while committing an aggravated assault.

His lawyer James Morton is arguing the murder charge should be reduced to manslaughter because Kingwatsiak was high on gasoline fumes at the time of the homicide.

Kingwatsiak testified he awoke at 3 a.m. on the morning of Sunday, Sept. 19, 2010, and was bored at home. He went to his grandfather's boat and sniffed gasoline until he became numb. He said the next thing he remembered was standing outside the boat, so he went back in for another hit.

He left toward his uncle's house, taking a .22-calibre rifle with him. On his way there, he spotted a Honda bike near the home. He removed the gas cap and took a third hit, at which point he thought he saw his uncle watching him through the window.

He turned his attention back to the gas tank, where he took a fourth hit. This time, he says, he took a deeper breath and blacked out.

Kingwatsiak told the court he regained consciousness in the middle of attacking his uncle after slashing him in the face with a knife. He apologized and left.

He said he was on his way home, when he spotted a snowmobile. He approached it, removed the gas cap and inhaled gasoline for a fifth time.

"I was sniffing differently than the other times," Kingwatsiak testified through an interpreter. "I would breathe in the gas, hold it in my lungs until I couldn't hold it anymore, and then breathe it out. The high was more intense."

Kingwatsiak says he blacked out again. The next thing he remembered was standing outside Adla's house after shooting him in the head.

Denies witnesses' testimony

Kingwatsiak made his way to his friend Tytoosie Tunnillie's house shortly after leaving Adla's. He said he doesn't know if he told Tunnillie about killing Adla, while demonstrating how he did it

Tunnillie had testified earlier in the day that Kingwatsiak had confessed.

Kingwatsiak also denied being jealous of Adla for befriending his ex-girlfriend Geena Lampron. While he admitted to threatening Adla with an empty .303-calibre rifle after a community dance two days before the shooting, he said he just didn't like the friendship because he was trying to get back together with Lampron.

He also denied previous testimony from Etidloi Adla, the victim's brother, who said Kingwatsiak had shot a rock pretending it to be Mappaluk Adla's head.

The crown's cross­-examination of Kingwatsiak will begin Thursday, and it's expected to be lengthy. So much so that Justice Bonnie Tulloch agreed to postpone the cross-­examination until the afternoon so the defence's next witness, a toxicologist, could testify in the morning and be excused before lunch.