Knife likely cause of fatal wound to Brandon Volpi's heart, court hears
Devontay Hackett, 21, on trial for second-degree murder
Two stab wounds to an Ottawa teen's neck and a fatal wound to his chest during a prom night fight in 2014 were likely caused by a sharp-edged knife, an Ottawa pathologist testified in court on Friday.
Brandon Volpi, 18, was fatally stabbed at around 3:30 a.m. on June 7, 2014 outside Les Suites Hotel on Besserer Street at an after prom party.
Devontay Hackett, now 21, is on trial for second-degree murder in Volpi's death.
Dr. Christopher Milroy, the director of the Eastern Ontario Regional Forensic Pathology Unit, testified at Hackett's murder trial Friday that the wounds Volpi suffered would have been painful injuries.
"I would expect them to be distressing," said Milroy, who performed the autopsy on Volpi.
Gaping wounds led to bled loss
Milroy described the two gaping wounds on the left side of Volpi's neck and said they were caused by a left-to-right slashing motion from a "sharp-edged knife."
The stab wound to the left side of Volpi's chest went 10 centimetres horizontally into his heart, and was what caused Volpi to bleed to death, he said.
The Crown did not mention in their opening submission finding a knife or any weapon related to the case.
However, a forensic video technician had earlier testified that cellphone video from the night showed Hackett with an object in his hand, both before and after he engaged in a fight with Volpi — even though no knife could be seen while they actually fought.
Under cross-examination, Milroy conceded that other wounds found on Volpi could have come from pieces of broken glass and that not all of the wounds had to have come from the same object or weapon.
Still, he maintained that all of Volpi's wounds were caused by "sharp-edged objects."
Volpi not intoxicated, pathologist testifies
In earlier testimony, a schoolmate of Brandon Volpi's also described being hit over the head with a glass bottle that night, near where the fight broke out.
Milroy also said blood-alcohol tests done on Volpi showed he was not drunk that night and that alcohol did not play a role in his death.
The alcohol in his system was equal to half a pint of beer, he said.
