Andrew Raven
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Nov 18/05) - A hoarse voice and a dark scar under his ear are evidence of a near-fatal knife attack that the 20-year-old victim can't remember.

"I was messed up for a while," he told a Yellowknife courtroom Wednesday, half full with an audience that included his friends and family.

The victim was the third prosecution witness in the trial of Jamie Martens, 21, who was charged with aggravated assault after an altercation outside the Shell Circle K on Range Lake Road Sept. 30, 2004.

Crown prosecutor Loretta Colton said witnesses would tell the 11-person jury that Martens stabbed the man twice - including the near-fatal blow to the neck.

In the words of one witness, the stab wound caused blood to "squirt" from the victim's neck onto the snow-covered gas station parking lot.

The trial is expected to hinge on what happened in the moments before the knife was plunged into the man's neck.

Colton and defence lawyer James Brydon agreed the victim started the brawl, confronting Martens in a chance encounter outside the convenience store.

The victim's best friend testified the man argued with Martens and pushed him to the ground.

Martens then got up and appeared to punch the man in the neck and side, the witness told the court.

He then said the victim grabbed his neck, and he "saw some blood squirt out. He was still conscious but not quite there."

Another witness testified that Martens swung several times at the man, connecting at least once in the neck and sending a plume of blood into the air.

"There was blood pumping out of his neck," said the second witness. "I though I just saw somebody get killed."

The victim's friend helped him into a car and sped through a red light to nearby Stanton Territorial Hospital.

The victim was medevaced to the University of Alberta Hospital where doctors worked to stop the bleeding and counteract the effects of a stroke.

The victim testified that he spent the next two months on a feeding tube and lost sight in his left eye.

After leaving hospital, he went through a long rehabilitation that included re-learning how to eat and read.

"I'm doing pretty good now though," he said Wednesday.

Brydon laid the groundwork for what is expected to be a claim of self-defence. He suggested the victim, 6'3 and over 200 pounds, was much larger than Martens, was "aggressive" and had a history of violence.

The man admitted to getting into an after-hours brawl with Martens earlier that year. That melee ended with the man and another friend beating Martens in the bed of a truck.

"I kind of lost it," the man said Wednesday on the witness stand.

He admitted that Martens had not thrown any punches but said Martens had wrapped a chain around his fist. The man testified that was the first time he had ever been in a fight, but later clarified those remarks. "Every other fight was in hockey," he said.

The man now works as a bar bouncer and greeter - a position Brydon suggested he got because of his size.

"No," he answered. "It's because I'm good with people."

Colton said she expected some witnesses to describe the man as a "bully." He had a "history" with Martens and Colton said the 11 jurors - one was excused earlier in the week - would hear that Martens was afraid of him.

She said, however, that did not excuse the stabbing.

"You do not have to decide who is the better person," she said.

While the victim said he has no memory of the Sept. 20 fight, he does remember packing meat during his evening job a few hours earlier. One witness testified that the victim had consumed four beers after leaving work.

The trial is expected to continue through next week. Aggravated assault carries a maximum of 14 years behind bars.