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Wareham takes stand

Andre Wareham told a murder trial jury that when he saw Bill Atkins collapse on the stairs he screamed that he wished he had left him alone. The second week of the Wareham trial started at the Thunder Bay Superior Court of Justice on Monday.
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Police escort Andre Wareham from the Superior Court of Justice on March 14, 2011. (tbnewswatch.com)

Andre Wareham told a murder trial jury that when he saw Bill Atkins collapse on the stairs he screamed that he wished he had left him alone.

The second week of the Wareham trial started at the Thunder Bay Superior Court of Justice on Monday.

Wareham faces a second-degree murder charge in connection to the death of 29-year-old Atkins. The court heard the previous week that the two men had fought in the hallway of a Finlayson Street apartment on Jan. 14, 2009.

Atkins received stab wounds and died as a result of blood loss.

Wareham took the stand in his defense following the Crown’s case against him. The 34-year-old from Toronto told the court that he came to Thunder Bay in order to “reinvent” himself.

The court heard that Wareham had a number of criminal convictions in his hometown the most recent being an aggravated assault charge in 2005.

Wareham had tried to be friendly with his neighbours, including Atkins, but their relationship went sour because of Atkins’ drinking, he said.

Wareham described Atkins as “volatile,” violent when drinking and often made racist comments.

The night that Atkins died, Wareham said he thought he was going to die.

“(Atkins) put me in a position where I was fearful for my life,” Wareham told the court.

“He kept saying ‘I’m going to kill you’ over and over. Physically, I felt completely helpless. He was raining blows on me. I reached into my picket and grabbed a knife. I covered my face and started to jab. I didn’t feel it made any contact. I didn’t know it got to the level that it did. I was trying to repel his attacks.

“I felt him release me. I got up and ran up the stairs. I looked at Billy. He reached for his stomach. He says ‘you, knife this blood’ and he fell on his face.

“I exploded at him ‘why didn’t you leave me alone?’”

The court heard more about Wareham and how he was trained as a boxer.

He had stopped drinking, smoking and using marijuana.

Wareham said he wanted to save up enough money to move to Timmins, Ont., where his grandfather lives.

A few hours before the incident, Wareham had gone to get a massage. He said it left him feeling dizzy and weak.

He walked the 20 minutes back to his apartment in the frigid weather but by the time he got to the main entrance, he said he felt like he was going to pass out.

“I had the feeling of being drunk without the alcohol,” he said.

Wareham’s lawyer Steven Hinkson also called to the stand Sharlene Bolt. The court learned that Bolt had given Wareham the massage.

Bolt said that the deep muscle massage leaves the patient feeling lightheaded and fatigued.

She said she told Wareham to drink water and avoid caffeinated beverages – advice the court later learned Wareham had ignored.

Before Hinkson started his case, the Crown called its final witness to the stand.

Nicholas Escott, a forensic pathologist, had performed the autopsy on Atkins on Jan. 16, 2009. The court saw a number of photos of the body and the various bruises and wounds.

Escott said in total, Atkins received five stab wounds – three to his abdomen near his belly button, one on his left arm and one on his right leg.

In his opinion, he said the attacker was most likely behind Atkins.

“I don’t know for sure how those wounds were inflicted but one possibility is that the victim was immobile and the assailant was from behind,” Escott said.

“It would be unlikely that (the victim) would just stand there while someone in front jabbed a knife in his abdomen three times.”

He said the length of the cut on Atkins arm was 6.9 centimeters and 4.2 centimeters deep while the cut on the leg was 9.6 centimeters long and 11 centimeters deep.

He said the three stab wounds to the stomach area were about 4 centimeters.

The two wounds he pointed out that could have proven fatal to Atkins were the injury to the abdomen that punctured the liver and the wound to the leg, which cut a major blood vessel.

He said these would have contributed heavily to the amount of blood lost by Atkins.

“When he first came to the hospital he was essentially dead,” he said. “He bled a lot before coming to the hospital.”

The court also heard a bit of history about Atkins.
Assistant Crown Attorney Elaine Burton told the jury that Atkins had a previous conviction. She said on Dec. 3, 2001 he assaulted his common-law wife.

She said the two had been drinking, had an argument and that Atkins had grabbed her by the throat.

She was able to push him off and told him to leave, she said.

Burton also called to the stand the property manager of the Finlayson Street apartment building Marg Albuquerque.

Albuquerque testified she sometimes saw Atkins and Wareham talking and added it appeared that they were friends.

She said Atkins had complained that Wareham was bringing prostitutes to his apartment but she never pursued the complaint or heard of anything similar from other tenants.

For the most part, Albuquerque had positives things to say about Wareham.

“He was a good tenant,” Albuquerque said. “He kept to himself. I basically had no issue with him. He paid his rent on time.”

The trial resumes on Tuesday.




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