The Crown’s star witness at a Halifax murder trial was back on the stand Tuesday for his third day of testimony.
Samanda Rose Ritch, 22, of Halifax and Calvin Maynard (C.J.) Sparks, 26, of Dartmouth are charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder in connection with a June 2017 knife attack that left Nadia Gonzales dead and John Patterson badly injured.
Gonzales, a 35-year-old mother of two from Hammonds Plains, was stabbed 37 times in the hallway of an apartment building on Hastings Drive in Dartmouth on the night of June 16 and stuffed into a hockey bag.
Patterson, who suffered six stab wounds, began testifying last week in Nova Scotia Supreme Court.
The 72-year-old Hants County man told the jury he and Gonzales had met just over five months earlier, around New Year’s, and that he would go with her when she made crack cocaine deliveries.
On the evening of the killing, Patterson said he, Gonzales and a third man known as Mike, whom he had just met that day, went to 33 Hastings Dr. to make a delivery for Wayne (Batman) Bruce, who lived there.
Patterson said Gonzales knocked on Bruce’s door and, after a minute or two, Sparks came out of the apartment “like a leopard” and struck her on the left side of the head, knocking her to the floor.
He said Sparks got on top of Gonzales and attacked her with what appeared to be a knife. He said he grabbed Sparks by the small of his back and tried to pull him off the woman.
Patterson wasn’t sure what happened next, saying he blacked out. He said he remembers feeling pain and seeing blood spurting out of his left arm like a fountain.
A few seconds after Sparks began stabbing Gonzales, Patterson said Ritch came out of the apartment and joined in the attack.
He said Ritch was “dancing on her toes” when she came into the hallway and described her making a stabbing motion when she attacked Gonzales.
Patterson said he knocked on doors looking for help but no one responded. He said he made his way out of the building and lay down on the grass to die.
Defence lawyer Peter Planetta, who represents Ritch, cross-examined Patterson on Tuesday.
Planetta began his questioning by asking Patterson if he had smoked crack this past weekend.
Patterson, who testified last week that he started smoking crack at the age of 58, replied that he quit using the drug about a month ago, although he couldn’t recall the exact date.
Planetta highlighted several inconsistencies between what Patterson told police in four statements shortly after the killing and what he’s said at trial.
“You might bear in mind the trauma I had just experienced,” Patterson said of the 2017 statements.
Patterson said there was a period of time right after the incident where he doesn’t know what he was saying. “I’m glad I’m here today,” he said.
He couldn’t explain why he never mentioned Ritch’s name in his statements to police. “I did know her name, but not in there,” he said of the statements.
“I wasn’t in too good a shape right then. … I don’t think my state of mind was the best, considering what I saw.”
He said he was in the hospital for almost two weeks and was recovering from physical and mental wounds and being double-crossed.
Patterson said he had spent the night of June 15 at Bruce’s apartment, where he talked to Sparks about his wish to kill Gonzales.
“I discussed the situation with Nadia,” he said. “I was aware of C.J.’s intentions and I confronted him that night.”
Patterson said his vision isn’t very good without his glasses, which were knocked off at some point during his altercation with Sparks in the hallway.
“I was close enough I didn’t need glasses,” Patterson said when challenged about his ability to see what happened.
He said he recalls seeing Ritch prone on the floor during the attack on Gonzales. Ritch’s legs were moving, he said, “and she was doing something with her hands.”
After further questioning, Patterson admitted he couldn’t say whether Ritch had anything in her hands.
He rejected a suggestion by Planetta that Ritch had tried to get between him and Sparks while they were fighting in the hallway.
Malcolm Jeffcock, Sparks’ counsel, will cross-examine Patterson on Wednesday.
Tuesday’s proceedings were late starting after Justice Christa Brothers excused one of the 14 jurors, a woman. That leaves a jury of nine men and four women to hear the case.
“Please do not speculate about why I have discharged your former colleague,” the judge told the remaining jurors. “Why I decided to do so has nothing to do with your decision in this case, absolutely nothing, and we will continue on with the trial.”
The trial is scheduled for 19 days.
