A Surrey man found guilty in a life-threatening knife attack on two men will not get a new trial.
In November, Anthony Andrew Larose appealed his 2011 conviction of two counts of aggravated assault, two of assault with a weapon and one of possessing a weapon. He was sentenced to seven years in prison.
The charges were in connection with an April 2010 incident on Fraser Highway near 156 Street where Larose had a run-in with Saul Marshall and Chris Hanna. The pair were at a gas station when they heard a commotion across the street. Larose had thrown a rock through a glass bus shelter and Hanna crossed the street and confronted him, with Marshall following shortly after.
A fight ensued, during which Larose was handed a 20-centimetre knife by the woman he was with. Larose stabbed Hanna twice in the chest and once in the abdomen. Hanna’s face was also sliced, as was Marshall’s neck.
During trial, Larose didn’t deny stabbing the men, but claimed he did it in self-defence after the two men attacked him first.
In his appeal, Larose argued the trial judge (Justice Neill Brown) did not suggest the jury consider self-defence as an option.
But on Tuesday, three B.C. Court of Appeal court justices rejected the appeal.
“In my view, the judge did not err by not addressing self-defence in the context of the weapon’s charge,” wrote Justice Edward C. Chiasson in the Jan. 15 decision. “He had concluded there was no air of reality to self-defence on the basis the appellant did not pick up the knife to defend himself. The appellant testified he did so to scare Mr. Hanna.”
He added the trial judge “clearly advised” the jury that they had to decide why Larose had the knife and was “not obliged to discuss self-defence with the jury.”
Justices Kathryn E. Neilson and Nicole J. Garson concurred with Chiasson’s decision.
