WARNING: This article contains graphic details heard in court that may disturb some readers.
Accused murderer Rick Patrick told a Barrie courtroom Thursday that Chris Forrester was killed with a knife that Forrester had given him as a Christmas present before their relationship collapsed.
“Everything happened extremely fast,” Patrick testified of the fatal confrontation that took place on a cold, windy night as he arrived in his driveway on Galloway Boulevard in Midland nine days before Christmas in 2021.
Patrick, who is on trial for second-degree murder, said that as he exited his vehicle, out of his periphery, he could see a figure crouched over at the end of his driveway. He reached for a knife he said had been a gift from Forrester.
“I felt the cold steel of the blade,” Patrick testified of reaching back into his vehicle for the weapon.
Patrick said he had little memory of stabbing Forrester, other than the spring action of his car door playing a role in preventing him from getting away and creating force that contributed to the blade plunging into Forrester’s chest with catastrophic effect.
Forrester died from a single stab wound that penetrated his heart less than an hour later in the Midland hospital.
“He looked at me and said, ‘you stabbed me,'” Patrick testified, saying the two men were little more than a foot apart.
Superior Court Justice Clyde Smith later instructed the jury that the distance Patrick described was about 14 inches.
“Did you having any intention to kill Chris?” asked defence lawyer Aliston Craig.
“No, ma’am,” Patrick responded.
Craig took about two hours for her direct examination. In it, Craig asked Patrick to describe how the two men met and how the accused came to own the trailer.
Patrick testified that he bought it from a dying friend he had met while playing darts at the Midland Royal Canadian Legion, and that the two men settled on the knocked-down price of $90,000.
“It wasn’t just to help Robert,” Patrick testified of his dying friend. “A price like that was too good (to pass up).”
The trailer, located on Viks Road in Midland, soon became Forrester’s residence after he needed new accommodation when he was evicted from his previous residence at a hotel in Fesserton.
Despite their 30-year age difference, Patrick says he and Forrester quickly grew close.
“I treated him like a son,” he testified.
The living arrangement was supposed to end by May 2020, so Patrick could flip the property to a buyer that he already had lined up.
According to his testimony Thursday, the relationship grew strained because of a combination of Patrick becoming aware of the details of a conviction for assault causing bodily harm that Forrester had recently pleaded guilty to, and for him not paying his rent on time.
In his testimony, Patrick said he also consented to allowing Forrester to serve house arrest, a condition of his assault sentence, at the trailer.
Cross-examination of the accused commenced after the lunch, but it soon got bogged down as Crown attorney Dennis Chronopoulos attempted to question Patrick about the various steps – and the voluminous paperwork required – the accused had taken through the Landlord and Tenant Board tribunal.
Numerous “I don’t remember” responses from the accused followed when pressed on various interactions he had with Forrester about trying to evict him.
Patrick did acknowledge that he was eventually able to get more than $10,000 in unpaid rent from Forrester about five months before he killed him.
Chronopoulos also got Patrick to explain how both men were adept at using knives at Patrick’s property in Port Severn, where they threw weapons at targets.
“You’ve thrown knives before?” Chronopoulos asked.
“Yes, absolutely,” replied Patrick.
Despite the grave nature of the trial, there were a couple of lighter moments before court adjourned for the day.
While pressing Patrick for details of who he was trying to sell the trailer to – a man who was never formally identified beyond his initials T.J. – Patrick said that the proposed purchaser was his cousin’s son.
“So, he’s your nephew?” Chronopoulos asked, before realizing he was incorrect, by clarifying, “twice removed, or something (to that effect)?”
From the stand, Patrick smiled and replied: “My grandmother had 21 kids, so I have a lot of cousins.”
A few moments later, to clarify Patrick’s testimony about Forrester not being neat and tidy at the trailer, Chronopoulos tried to give Forrester’s living conditions proper context.
“He was a bachelor,” Chronopoulos pointed out to Patrick on the stand.
“So was I. We won’t judge,” Patrick replied with a grin.
At least one juror, along with a few members of the public gallery, let out an audible chuckle.
The trial resumes Friday where it is expected the Crown will continue with its cross-examination of Patrick.
Legal arguments are expected to follow on Monday and the case should be in the hands of the jury by mid-week.
