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Victim in 2015 murder stabbed a dozen times

Daniel Boyd Sawyer on trial for second-degree murder
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Daniel Boyd Sawyer (Photo contributed)

A Red Deer man killed in a north-side parking lot in 2015 was slashed and stabbed a dozen times, a jury heard Thursday.

Calgary medical examiner Dr. Tera Jones testified in Red Deer Court of Queen’s Bench that Alan Beach, 31, had wounds all over his body, including deep stab wounds to his head, stomach and right leg, and numerous scrapes and bruises.

A stab wound to his chest sliced his lung and caused massive bleeding. A deep wound to his right leg cut his femoral artery and a stab wound to the skull was deep enough to reach his brain.

Another 20 bruises and scrapes were counted on the battered body of Beach, who was five-foot-six and weighed 115 pounds.

“He died as a result of multiple stab and incise wounds,” Jones testified.

Daniel Boyd Sawyer, 33, is on trial for second-degree murder. He is accused of killing Beach in a fight in the parking lot near the Blarney Stone Pub, 6320 50 Ave., around 9 p.m. Nov. 18, 2015.

Sawyer turned himself in nine days later, and he has been in custody since.

Jones, who did the autopsy on Beach the day after his death, was the first witness to give evidence before the seven-woman, five-man jury.

She painstakingly went through each of Beach’s injuries as jury members followed along in a book containing 25 photographs.

Crown prosecutor Ed Ring asked if the chest wound alone could have caused death.

“Yes,” said Jones. But she could not say if that injury caused his death, because of his other wounds.

The stab wound to the leg that cut the femoral artery was also potentially fatal.

“People have died from having lacerated femoral arteries,” she said.

As to the deep head wound, Jones said “it’s questionable how much injury would have occurred from that,” although there would have been blood loss.

Jones was asked if she could tell what kind of weapon was used in the attack. She could only say it was something with at least one cutting edge.

Asked if the cuts would have all come from a similar object, she said it was difficult to determine.

When asked how much force was used to cause the injuries, the medical examiner couldn’t say because the damage would depend on the sharpness of the weapon and the area of the body involved.

Jones also could not determine from her examination what position the victim was in when attacked, but the wounds appeared to have occurred at the same time.

“They all had a similar look to them.”

The trial continues Friday.