Man says machete attack by favourite uncle 'made no sense'

Larry Paquette had nodded off to sleep while watching a movie with his "favourite uncle" on the evening of June 7, 2016 when he awoke to the older man attacking him with a machete.

Andre Duplin was standing over his recliner, striking him "really hard" with the weapon, the 55-year-old Aweres Township man told the court Thursday.

"He kept hitting, over and over again," Paquette testified during the second day of Duplin's trial on three charges stemming from the incident, which occurred after the pair had been drinking beer and smoking marijuana.

"I had to put my hands up the best I could to defend myself. The hits kept coming — my head, hands, fingers, everywhere, my head mostly."

Paquette said he asked his then 70-year-old uncle "what the f**k are you doing?" and Duplin replied "I'm going crazy."

After he managed to push Duplin away, he said he told him to call an ambulance because "I'm pissing blood everywhere."

The witness told prosecutor David Didiodato that he was stunned by what was happening.

"It was a total shock, a total nightmare," Paquette said. "I couldn't reconcile in my mind what he was doing. It made no sense."

He said he lost consciousness after telling Duplin to call the ambulance and woke up a few days later in Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto.

He received injuries to his head, both hands and a finger on his left hand was cut off, he said.

Duplin has pleaded not guilty to assault with a weapon, aggravated assault and attempted murder.

Paquette explained to Ontario Court Justice Andrew Buttazzoni that the two men had an excellent relationship prior to that night.

Duplin, who lived in Sault Ste. Marie, would visit his home on Rupert Acres Drive three to five times a month, and stay for a few days, he said.

"We'd drink, have barbecues and bonfires, cut wood, smoke weed, regular stuff, anything we wanted to do, there was nobody to bother us," Paquette said. "We ate when we wanted to and partied when we wanted to."

There always was alcohol in his home. "Sometimes we went through two cases (of beer) a day, other times one (case) a day. There was no rhyme or reason," Paquette  said, indicating they also would smoke joints.

The machete was used to cut kindling to start fires in the morning, he said.

On the day he was assaulted, Paquette said he remembered sitting at his kitchen table drinking beer and rolling a joint.

A female friend, who was there, left to return to town, while he and Duplin continued talking and drinking beer.

He estimated the two men drank six to seven beer over two, maybe three hours, and then he made supper.

Paquette insisted "neither one of us was drunk.

"I know how many cases it takes to get us drunk. There still was a lot (of beer) in the fridge after we ate."

They also were smoking weed — three to four joints.

After dinner, Paquette said they each grabbed another beer, went to sit in the living room where they smoked another joint or two, and started watching a movie. 

That's when he fell asleep and woke up to the attack.

Duplin was "saying absolutely nothing, no ranting, nothing," while hitting him, Paquette told the Crown.

He said the pair were having "just a regular conversation, like we always had" and were not arguing prior to the incident.

During a brief cross-examination by defence counsel Jennifer Tremblay-Hall, Paquette indicated that he has bipolar disorder, but was not prescribed medication at the time.

He said he "vaguely knew" that his uncle was taking some meds, but is not sure what.

Paquette agreed that Duplin was his favourite uncle and he was the accused's favourite nephew, but became visibly upset and somewhat hostile when Tremblay-Hall suggested he is still struggling to understand what happened between the two men.

"I don't even know how I feel about it," he responded. 

His hostility increased when the lawyer asked if he remembered telling the police in an interview st Sunnybrook that Duplin went crazy.

"I'm still struggling to understand what happened," he told her.

"I'd been hit 22 f**king times. I don't know what I said."

When Tremblay-Hall then suggested he didn't believe Duplin intended to kill him, he retorted that "you don't hit a guy 22 times with a machete and not expect him to die."

Paquette conceded that up until that time Duplin had never done anything violent to anyone.

"If someone said on June 1 do you think Andre would harm you, you would have told them they were crazy," she said.

"That's right," he replied.

"You loved Andre before this, just like he loved you," Tremblay-Hall stated.

"Yes," was his answer.

On Thursday, Buttazzoni also heard evidence from a paramedic who responded to the call at the mobile home in a trailer park north of the Sault.

Steven Anderson testified that he and his partner arrived there 8:44 p.m.

The patient,who was reclined in a Lazy Boy type chair, had obvious trauma to his head.

"He was breathing, had a pulse, and obviously bleeding massively," Anderson said. "There was a massive laceration across his head where the majority of the blood was coming from. A piece of a finger was missing and there was bleeding there."

Once the bleeding was controlled, Paquette was transported to Sault Area Hospital.

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