Trial of woman accused of attempted murder inside B.C. courtroom hears of chaotic, bloody scene – BC
WARNING: This story accommodates particulars, together with photograph and video, that could be disturbing to some readers.
Testimony and proof offered on the trial of a B.C. girl accused of stabbing one other girl inside a Vancouver courtroom final 12 months has targeted on the chaotic and bloody scene, in addition to the psychological state of the accused.
Catherine Shen faces a number of felony fees, together with tried homicide, after allegedly attacking Jing Lu forward of a court docket listening to on a civil case between the 2 girls on Might 25, 2021.
Photographs proven throughout the trial and obtained by International Information spotlight Lu’s accidents to her chest and arms. In addition they present the aftermath of the alleged stabbing contained in the courtroom, in addition to the weapons Shen is alleged to have used: a fish knife with a six-inch blade and a hammer, each lined in blood.
A photograph proven at trial exhibits the aftermath of an alleged assault on a lady inside a Vancouver courtroom on Might 25, 2021.
Submitted
A photograph proven at trial exhibits a blood-covered knife allegedly utilized in an assault on a lady inside a Vancouver courtroom on Might 25, 2021.
Submitted
A photograph proven at trial exhibits a blood-covered hammer allegedly utilized in an assault on a lady inside a Vancouver courtroom on Might 25, 2021.
Submitted
Safety video additionally obtained by International Information doesn’t present the stabbing — cameras will not be allowed contained in the courtrooms on the Vancouver Regulation Courts — however does present Shen pacing exterior the courtroom minutes earlier than the listening to was set to start.
It later exhibits a number of B.C. Sheriff’s deputies speeding to the scene after a panic button contained in the courtroom was hit by the court docket clerk.
On Wednesday, two deputies who had been among the many first to reach each testified to the quantity of blood on the ground of the courtroom, in addition to on Shen and Lu.
Kulbinder Bagri testified that he was the primary to take care of Lu’s accidents, which he stated included a critical lower to her left wrist that he estimated was 4 inches deep. One other critical puncture wound was discovered on Lu’s higher chest close to her collar bone on her left aspect.
After making use of stress and bandages, Bagri testified that he advised Lu she was in “good fingers” in an effort to consolation her.
Learn extra:
Courtroom stabbing raises questions on safety at B.C. Supreme Court docket
Later, Chris Zanoto testified that he “instantly smelled blood” upon arriving contained in the courtroom. He advised the court docket he took management of Shen, who was already disarmed and in handcuffs, and took her to a holding cell.
Zanoto testified that when he requested Shen if she understood that she was underneath arrest for assault, she replied sure, however later stated she was fearful Lu was going to harm her.
“I don’t want first help,” Zanoto stated Shen advised her. “First help can’t assist me. I’m sick.”
‘I used to be actually fearful,’ sufferer testifies
On Tuesday, Lu testified she was sitting inside Courtroom 32 on the Vancouver Regulation Courts when she felt a blow to her head, describing the sensation as an “earthquake.”
Lu stated she noticed Shen standing behind her with the weapons in her hand, including Shen was “utilizing all of her pressure to attempt to stab me with the knife.”
“I used to be actually fearful,” Lu advised the court docket.
“I didn’t know the place I used to be injured. I might solely really feel blood coming down.”
Shen and Lu had been due in court docket that day for a contempt listening to in an ongoing civil go well with associated to a greater than decade-long “verbal conflict” on social media between the 2 girls, in response to court docket paperwork.
Lu testified that the battle began on a web based chat discussion board for Chinese language immigrants, the place each she and Shen finally posted more and more destructive and hateful feedback in regards to the others’ households, in addition to one another.
The 2 girls didn’t know one another exterior the discussion board, in response to earlier court docket information.
Whereas Lu was underneath cross-examination by Shen’s defence lawyer Scott Wright in regards to the on-line battle, Shen shouted out from the prisoner’s field on two separate events that Lu was mendacity.
In a while Tuesday, John Roberge, the court docket sheriff who was first to reach, testified he first heard what he thought was a seagull earlier than realizing it was cries of misery.
He advised the court docket he ran to the courtroom and located two girls jostling backwards and forwards, solely stopping after he yelled at them to take action.
Aftering ordering each girls to put on the bottom, he testified that he disarmed Shen of the knife and hammer and tossed them each throughout the room. He then put Shen in handcuffs after calling for backup and paramedics.
Wright, the defence lawyer, advised International Information he will likely be submitting an software for Shen to be discovered not criminally accountable on account of psychological dysfunction.
The trial has now been adjourned till April 20 to permit for psychiatric stories.
