The Crown is expected to wrap up its case Wednesday in an assault trial where a Penticton man was stabbed three times.
Joshua Rex Mason is charged with the aggravated assault of Clayton Raymond Bonthoux on July 27, 2012 at a residence on Power Street.
“I remember saying all I need is a band aid, falling to my knees and the next thing I remember is waking up in Kelowna hospital,” said Bonthoux, who added he was stabbed above the heart, in the upper neck region and at the base of his throat.
Bonthoux testified at the Penticton courthouse on Tuesday that within 24 hours of meeting one another the pair had been in three physical altercations. He said in all instances Mason was asked to leave Bonthoux’s residence but would not comply and even returned shortly after being literally thrown off the balcony.
An agreement had initially been made, according to Bonthoux, that Mason could crash at the house for a few days in exchange for some money. But Bonthoux said the money didn’t change hands and it didn’t take long for his roommates to want Mason out, saying he had ripped the toilet seat off, was found snooping through laundry, was hitting on some of Bonthoux’s female friends and one of their 13-year-old daughters.
The following day, Bonthoux said Mason came back to his residence with a female, Crystal Schram. The court heard a number of people were now at the Power Street house partying and very intoxicated. Witnesses testified an argument started between the two men about rent money and accusations of Mason forging Bonthoux’s signature on a form for social assistance.
Bonthoux said he does not recall that, but did remember wanting both Schram and Mason out of the house, saying he along with several others told them to leave but they didn’t listen. Bonthoux said a struggle ensued with Mason and they fell to the floor. He said Schram kicked him in the face, and by the time Bonthoux got up both Mason and Schram had left.
Schram testified Bonthoux had punched her and threw her over a couch and she was assaulted a couple of times by females at the Power Street house before she left. When Schram returned home she said her friend Pat Strike noticed she had been beaten up and offered to be Mason’s back up if he wanted to go retrieve his rent money and “deal with” who hit Schram. She said Strike grabbed a butcher knife from her kitchen, put it in his back pocket and left with Mason, but there was no talk of stabbing anyone.
Bonthoux said it wasn’t long after the third fight that he saw Strike, whom he had been acquaintances with for five years, standing at the gate on his property with Mason behind him. Bonthoux said he asked why Strike was hanging out with a “loser” like Mason who he kicked off his property three times. He said Strike turned around to ask Mason if that was true and the next thing he knew Mason was leaning over the fence and stabbed him three times.
Okanagan Hockey School bus driver Neil Britton testified he was at Queen’s Park School hockey dorms working when he witnessed a fight.
Britton said a man standing inside the gate took a “lackadaisical” punch at the man standing outside the gate. He said the man on the sidewalk instantly reacted with his own lunge. Britton said the man then put his arm down to his side and he saw a “paring knife” with a four to five-inch blade. He saw the man then walk away, motioning like he was unravelling a tensor bandage and then toss the knife into a bush before hopping a fence and taking off.
Britton said he later showed RCMP the location and officers discovered a carpal tunnel bandage, a butcher knife and another knife in the bushes.