'This isn't going to be a whodunit': Defence concedes Thomas Hamp fatally stabbed Emily Sanche

Thomas Hamp admitted on the first day of his second-degree murder trial at Court of King's Bench in Saskatoon that he fatally stabbed his girlfriend Emily Sancheon Feb. 20, 2022.

But Hamp's lawyer says the 25-year-old is not criminally responsible for what happened in the young couple's Main Street apartment.

"This isn't going to be a whodunit," defence lawyer Brian Pfefferle said Monday.

"There is a mental element that will be an issue."

• Access to mental health services will loom large at Saskatoon murder trial starting Monday

Two weeks is set aside for Hamp's judge-alone trial before Justice Grant Currie. Prosecutor Cory Bliss read an agreed statement of facts into the record on Monday.

"Inthe early morning hours of Feb. 20, 2022, Thomas retrieved a kitchen knife from the set of knives found within the suite," Bliss said.

"He stabbed Emily in the upper left chest with that knife. In doing so the blade broke and remained lodged in Emily's body."

She died later in hospital. Hamp had originally been charged with aggravated assault.

According to the statement,Hamp originally told a neighbour and police that a man had broken into the third-floor apartment and attacked the couple. But he recanted that later, saying that he stabbed Sanche and then himself.

Bliss's first three witnesses were the police first on the scene.

Const. Adam Dottermanndescribed arriving and finding Emily, covered in blood, on her back on the apartment floor getting medical aid from two neighbours and Thomas.

Dottermann said that Hamp, covered in blood and wearing only boxer shorts, cradled Sanche's head while another man did chest compressions.Dottermanntestified that Hamp told him that a large man had broken, but that, "I did not observe any signs of forced entry."

Dottermann handcuffed Hamp "as a precaution." He saidthe 25-year-old spoke "in a slow, quiet voice," but it was not slurred like he had been drinking. None of the police on scene that morning smelled burnt marijuana in the apartment or found drug paraphernalia.

Bliss and Pfefferle said they'll be calling friends, family, police and medical experts over the next two weeks.