Man guilty of manslaughter in fatal stabbing outside Mount Royal Hotel in Winnipeg

There's no question that Elijah Moneyas fatally stabbed Brian Edward Anderson outside a Higgins Avenue hotel in August 2022, but there is doubt about his intent to kill, a judge has ruled.

Andersonwas stabbed three timesin the upper left side of his body on Aug. 17, 2002, after a dispute near Winnipeg's Mount Royal Hotel.

The wounds tohistemple and upper backwere not life-threatening, but one just above the clavicle caused his death, saysthewritten judgment of King's Bench Justice SarahInnes, releasedWednesday.

Moneyas, now 22, had been charged with second-degree murder, but Innesinstead found him guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter.

"There is no direct evidence of Mr. Moneyas' intent when he stabbed Mr. Anderson. I recognize this is not uncommon, [as] proof of intent often rests entirely on circumstantial proof," Innes wrote in the 31-page judgment.

"The Crown must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that an inference of guilt is the only reasonable inference based upon the circumstantial evidence and I am not satisfied they have done so in this case. It is not sufficient that I believe that the defendant is probably guilty."

When police arrivedjust after 3 a.m., they found Andersoncritically injured. He was rushed tohospital and pronounced dead.

Moneyasand the group he was with ran from the area before officers arrived. Hewas identified and arrested aweek later at a suite on Blake Street, in the city's Weston neighbourhood.

Police also seized a pair of bloodstained shoes from the suite, the judgment says. A swab of the inside heel area of the right shoe recovered DNA that matched Moneyas, while DNA from three swabbedareas on the exterior of the right shoe matched Anderson.

Moneyas's lawyers argued the Crown failed to prove he committed the stabbingor was eveninvolved in the altercation at all that one or more of the others in the group were guilty instead.

They also argued that, should Innes believe Moneyaswas responsible, he should beacquitted foracting in self-defence.

Moneyas seen with knife

Innes flatly rejected those arguments, writing in her judgment thatsurveillance videos from the hotel and other locations tell another story.

The person who committed the stabbing was wearing a distinct jacket that is seen being worn by Moneyasbefore and after the killing.

He is also seenholding a knife after the stabbing while walking backwards towardthe hotel.

While a forensic pathologistcould not rule out the possibility that more than one weapon was used, he testifiedduring the trial that the nature of the wounds were consistent with having been caused by the same weapon.

Moneyas didn't testifyat the trial buthis statement to police was used asevidence.

Heinitially denied any involvement or even being present, then tried to implicateothers before finally admitting to the stabbing and identifying himself as the onein all the video evidence.

Moneyas claimed he retaliated after Anderson punched him, but evidence shows Moneyas ran, not walked, toward Anderson, who stood still in the roadway. Moneyas threwhis right arm forward as he launched atAnderson, Innes wrote.

Willingness to fight

The struggle goes off camera for approximately three seconds, which the defence tried to use to create doubt in the Crown's case. But Innessaid the knife is still in Moneyas's hand.

Moneyas also told police he was extremely drunk and high, but Innes saidthere are no observable signs of impairment in his movements or behaviour on the video. In fact, he kept his balanceafter knocking Anderson down.

Innes acknowledged that Anderson showed a willingness to fight, egging Moneyas on with swears and gestures as he stood on the road.

"A reasonable person in Mr. Moneyas's situation would believe that a threat of force was being made against them," she wrote.

However,Moneyas could have easily walked away.Anderson was described by the pathologist as morbidly obese, while Moneyas was slim and nimble and could have easily escaped any efforts by Anderson to chase him.

Instead, "Moneyas introduced a knife to a fist fight," which undermines "the assertion that Mr. Moneyas was only seeking to protect himself and was not the aggressor," Innes wrote.

But while he clearly used a knife to get the upper hand against a much larger man, this does not mean Moneyas intended to kill Anderson, she wrote.

Sentencing is expected Dec 3.