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Stabber acted in self defence, lawyer says

Red Deer man charged with aggravated assault for stabbing girlfriend’s father
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Punched in the face while he was lying in bed, Linden Joseph Lee Buffalo’s instinct to reach for a knife and stab his attacker was not unreasonable, his lawyer argued Friday.

Only seconds passed from when Buffalo was punched by the irate father of his girlfriend to when Buffalo fought back, stabbing Travis Peterson in the neck and hip at the door of Buffalo’s bedroom.

The struggle spilled out into the hallway of the Oriole Park home Buffalo shared with his then-girlfriend Shalyn Peterson. Her father was wounded a third time, slicing his hand open grabbing the blade of the knife Buffalo was attacking him with during the brawl sometime around 5 a.m. on Aug. 6, 2017.

Travis Peterson had rushed to his daughter’s home after she frantically called him for help on Facebook Messenger after Shalyn and Buffalo got into an argument that quickly escalated after a night of drinking.

When she threatened to phone police, he smashed her cellphone on the floor and she retreated to a bathroom with her iPad.

Buffalo is on trial for aggravated assault and mischief in Red Deer Court of Queen’s Bench.

Defence lawyer Andrew Phypers said Buffalo was acting in self-defence after being attacked in his own home.

Phypers said Buffalo could not have known what Peterson’s intentions were in the seconds after he was punched.

”There is still an intruder who just attacked him still in his residence,” he told Justice Marilyn Slawinsky in his closing arguments.

Buffalo’s reaction to fight back with a knife was reasonable, or at least raised enough doubt, that it should be considered aggravated assault, said Phypers.

”He is not the aggressor in this situation.”

Crown prosecutor Greg Gordon argued that Peterson had “disengaged” after punching Buffalo and was not a threat to him.

Grabbing a knife and attacking Peterson was a response “entirely disproportionate” to what had happened to Buffalo, Gordon said.

Gordon said that after the single punch, Peterson’s actions were only defensive as the blood-soaked father struggled in what he told court on Thursday was a fight for his life.

Peterson, his daughter and her infant son fled the home and raced in the father’s truck to Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre.

Peterson’s wounds were stitched up, but he believes he has permanent nerve damage in his neck, where the knife sank in about five centimetres.

Slawinsky will deliver her decision on May 3.