Man acquitted in the Kelowna Stabbing center due to self -defense – Kelowna News

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After four days of judgment, a man accused of stabbing a person in the center of Kelowna was acquitted on Friday after a judge discovered that he had acted in self -defense.

Donald Graham, 27, was arrested on the night of July 17, 2023 after a man had been stabbed in the abdomen on Bernard de Kelowna, near Pandosy Street. He was accused of pronouncing threats and assaults with a weapon, and his trial began last Monday in Kelowna Court.

After listening to the testimony of two RCMP officers and several witnesses, including the stabbed victim Izak Chotowetz, Judge Steven Wilson delivered his decision on Friday afternoon, finding Graham not guilty for both positions.

When describing the circumstances of the accusations against Graham, Judge Wilson said that Chotowetz and Jonathan Chabot were altered with Graham after the couple had left O’Flannigan’s pub, where they had been drinking and celebrating a friend’s birthday.

Chotowetz testified that they had found Graham in Bernard Ave. in Water Street, acting belligerent and shouting a group of women.

But much of the incident was captured in the surveillance chamber, without audio, and Judge Wilson said the video only showed Graham sitting in a bank alone, seeing not to bother anyone before the couple arrived.

“The initial interaction between the two was when Mr. Graham asked for a cigarette or some money and Mr. Chabot or Mr. Chotowetz responded with blasphemy,” Judge Wilson said.

Judge Wilson pointed out several inconsistencies between the testimony of Chotowetz and the video surveillance, which he attributed to an unreliable memory, probably due to his alcohol consumption at the night in question.

Judge Wilson said that what is not in dispute is that Graham and the couple, who had not met at all, began to swear each other before Chotowetz and Chabot continue easting east by Bernard Ave. Graham got up from the bank and began to follow them, swearing for them.

Do you want them to stab you?

Chotowetz testified that Graham threatened them while walking, saying “do you want to die? Do you want them to stab you? Who is hard now?” Chabot testified that Graham said “messy things” as if he wanted to see them bleed and wanted to kill them.

Both men said that Graham’s words were taken seriously and feared for their lives.

Chabot testified that at one time, he told Graham “Friend, stop before winning shit, there are two of us.”

At one point, Graham took a knife out of his pocket, and Judge Wilson said the video video seems to show that Chotowetz and Chabot “do not seem particularly concerned about this development, because they choose to turn and face Mr. Graham once again to scream and gesture it.”

The video showed Graham to follow the couple for Bernard to Posy Street, where Chotowetz and Chabot met two friends with whom they had been coming out before.

“When he sees (his friends) approaching, (Chotowetz) seems emboldened and charged to face Mr. Graham to start a physical confrontation,” Judge Wilson said.

While the two men “slope” in front of the mosaic books, Graham tried to cut Chotowetz with the knife, that Chotowetz avoided, and then Chotowetz approached him to the ground. Chotowetz and Chabot then hit and kicked Graham several times.

But when Chotowetz left Graham, he realized that he suffered a stab wound in the abdomen. Police arrived shortly after and arrested Graham.

“This case is in court this week because three men behaved badly on a summer night in the center of Kelowna,” Judge Wilson said. “There were numerous opportunities for each of the three to have acted differently, so that all this could have been avoided.”

‘Trying to defend himself’

Judge Wilson said the video surveillance showed that there were about five seconds among when Graham was approached by Chotowetz and when one of the friends grabbed the knife that had fallen from Graham’s hand. He said that Chotowetz must have suffered the handful wound at some point in those five seconds.

“I have no difficulty concluding from my observation of the video that Mr. Graham had little or no opportunity to do anything intentional or even recklessly during those five seconds,” Judge Wilson said. “He was beaten on the floor, Mr. Chotowetz landed on him and began hitting him, while Mr. Chabot kicked him.”

He said the most likely stage was that Chotowetz landed in the knife during the Tackle.

However, Judge Wilson concluded that the three cutting motions that Graham made in Chotowetz before the Tackle constituted an assault. But he ruled that Graham had cut Chotowetz in self -defense.

“The cutting motions of Mr. Graham occurred when Mr. Chotowetz made the decision to physically run Mr. Graham, despite the fact that Mr. Chotowetz knew Mr. Graham had a knife in his hand. Mr. Chabot was flanking Mr. Graham from behind, ”said Judge Wilson.

“I find Mr. Graham trying to defend himself from Mr. Chotowetz’s approach knowing that Mr. Chabot also raised an imminent threat.

“At the moment, Mr. Chotowetz chose to turn and attack, Mr. Graham had small options at this moment.”

Because he found that Graham’s actions were made in self -defense, Judge Wilson found him not guilty of the assault with a weapon charge.

Acquitted of threats

While Judge Wilson accepted that Graham used some type of threatening language to which Chotowetz and Chabot testified, he concluded that the threats were made as part of “fair verbal” between the two parties and that Graham did not intend that their threats were taken seriously.

“If Mr. Graham had intended to take his words seriously, he would probably have shortened the distance between him and Mr. Chotowetz and Mr. Chabot,” Judge Wilson.

“Similarly, if Mr. Chotowetz or Mr. Chabot had taken the words seriously, they would probably have accelerated their rhythm, they would have gone in a different direction or have done something else, but they did not.”

As a result of this reasoning, Judge Wilson acquitted Graham for the position of threats at all.