Fatal wound required 'significant amount of force' (update)

Corellie Bonhomme's death was caused by a single stab wound to the neck and shock from blood loss, a forensic pathologist told jurors Thursday at the trial of the young man accused of killing her.

The right side of the 42-year-old woman's neck was punctured with a sharp instrument, causing a gaping wound there, Dr. Michael D'Agostino testified.

The weapon perforated her neck, leaving an exit wound on the left side, said the Sault Area Hospital pathologist who conducted a post mortem on Aug. 12, 2013, four days after her body was found in a Lake Street apartment.

Johnathan Townsend, 21, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.

The wound path went right to left and downward, transversing the entire neck, D'Agostino said. 

"A significant amount of force" would be required to cause such a wound, which resulted in substantial blood loss, he told assistant Crown attorney Heidi Mitchell. 

When the prosecutor showed him a kitchen knife police had seized from Townsend's apartment, he indicated it could cause this sort of injury.

The weapon passed through structures of the neck, cutting two major blood vessels.

Bonhomme's "blood volume was markedly diminished."

D'Agostino said there was no obvious signs of defence wounds on the woman's hands or arms.

During cross-examination, defence counsel Jennifer Tremblay-Hall suggested the stabbing was a "quick sudden fluid movement." 

"It was a single stab wound," the doctor replied, agreeing with her description the blade had gone in and come out in a single event.

Bonhomme's body was discovered in the bathtub of Townsend's ground floor bachelor apartment about 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 8, 2013.

On Wednesday, jurors viewed surveillance tapes from the building's security cameras which showed the exotic dancer going into the apartment just before 2 a.m. that day, and Townsend leaving alone at 3:25 a.m.

Another security video, played Thursday, showed the then 18-year-old at Tim Hortons on Trunk Road not long after.

He entered the washroom, where he remained for seven minutes, then purchased some food before sitting down at a table, where he put on headphones and began using a laptop.

Townsend spent 25 minutes at the doughnut shop.

A second Aug. 8 surveillance tape showed him at the Trunk Road McDonalds, where he makes a purchase, and again sits at a table where he uses the computer.

Tremblay-Hall asked city police Det. Const. Joe Addison if officers had canvassed the apartment building's residents during their investigation.

The 15-year officer said they had gone door to door to see if anybody saw or heard anything.

One person described an individual similar to the victim, who she believed she saw walking with Townsend on the Community Day weekend, Addison said.

Another, who lived in a nearby apartment, said she heard the sound of a shower.

"No one heard any screaming or pounding?" Tremblay-Hall asked. 

"Not to my knowledge," the officer replied.

He agreed the incident could have happened quickly, but he couldn't say that because "I don't have an opinion on the time line."

"Is it fair to say nothing has come to your attention since that it happened over a long time?" 

"Yes," he said.

The trial, before Superior Court Justice Michael Varpio, continues Friday.