HALIFAX — A Halifax jury has heard from a blood stain pattern analyst about the gruesome scene inside Kristin Johnston’s Halifax-area home, where Nicholas Butcher allegedly killed the Montreal-born yoga instructor and cut off his hand.
Police have testified that Johnston’s body was found in the master bedroom on a blood-soaked bed next to a steak knife on March 26th, 2016.
The jury at Butcher’s second-degree murder trial has heard that a mitre saw and a severed hand were found on the floor of the bedroom.
RCMP Sgt. Adrian Butler says a saturation stain found on the bed was consistent with Johnston receiving injuries to her neck and bleeding in the spot that she was found — lying on her back.
Butler, who was qualified to give opinion evidence at the trial, says there were also hundreds of blood spatter stains around the saturation stain on a pillow, comforter and the floor.
He says there were pools of blood on the bedroom floor near the mitre saw, along with hundreds of “cast off” spatter stains on the wall near the saw as well as stains on the saw’s handle.
The Crown has said the medical examiner will testify that Johnston had 10 wounds on her neck, and that her death was caused by sharp force.
The jury has heard that the businesswoman had just shut down her yoga studio and was ending her relationship with Butcher.
The 36-year-old man, a graduate of Dalhousie University law school who worked with Young Drivers before his arrest, has pleaded not guilty.