Crown witness Sascha Harten testified Wednesday that her ex-boyfriend, Shawn Poirier, told her he thought he had killed a man minutes after fighting with him in Liberty Village on New Year’s Eve six years ago. “He told me he discarded his hat because it was full of blood,” Harten told a Superior Court jury. Poirier also told her he had thrown away his knife, she said.She was testifying at Poirier’s second-degree murder trial for the Jan. 1, 2012 killing of Mike Pimentel, who was stabbed to death after leaving a party.Poirier has pleaded not guilty and is arguing self-defence.Harten started dating Poirier in Moncton, N.B., after meeting him in a nightclub where she was working as an exotic dancer.On Dec. 31, 2011, the couple drove to Toronto to celebrate New Year’s Eve. After some shopping, they went to a few downtown-area bars before calling it a night around 2:30 a.m.Their level of intoxication was about a seven out of 10, Harten said.Unable to find a taxi — or a washroom — Harten relieved herself behind a large empty flower box near East Liberty St. and Hanna Ave, while Poirier held her purse and used his coat to hide her from view, she testified.While she crouched, a man across the street began yelling.“He was angry that I was urinating outside,” she said. “I told him to f--- off.” Poirier chimed in, telling the stranger “to leave us alone, go away,” Harten said.More words and insults were exchanged. Harten said the man then came toward them — she agreed with defence lawyer Magda Wyszomierska during cross examination that he “charged at you,” grabbed her, and threw her onto the street.“I thought he was on something . . . a narcotic of some sort, because of his state.”Pimentel and Poirier then began wrestling and “jabbing” at each other, while Harten “tried to separate them . . . push them apart.” A bystander captured part of the ...
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