Editor’s note: The following contains graphic details that could be disturbing for some readers.
A man on trial for killing his mother’s former boyfriend and his teenaged son told a Barrie court Tuesday he was under attack by the two men when he lashed out with his pocket knife in defence.
“I went into a frenzy,” Dyrrin Daley testified. “I was so afraid for my life.
“I felt so threatened and scared.”
An expert earlier testified that 51-year-old James Pasowisty died not long after sustaining 38 stab wounds as did his son Nick, 19, who was stabbed 35 times.
“Once they walked away… I ran away from there,” Daley told the court.
But Daley, who is standing trial on first- and second-degree murder, said he had no idea the men were dead until police showed up at his home that afternoon and arrested him for murder.
He said that was never his intent and he apologized to family members for the killings.
Dressed neatly, as he has throughout the trial, in a grey dress shirt buttoned to the neck with a fitted black jacket, matching pants and slip-on canvas shoes, Daley was led, his hands cuffed, from the prisoner’s box to the witness stand where the handcuffs were removed.
Guided by questions from his lawyer, James Harbic, Daley told his version of what happened when he set out in search of marijuana early Feb. 8, 2017.
He said he had won some money at the casino, then went to a nightclub. After finishing the one gram of marijuana his mom purchased for him from the Pasowistys earlier that day, he decided he wanted more.
Early in his testimony, Nick’s mom, who has been watching much of the trial, left the courtroom visibly upset.
Daley said he figured Nick was a night owl and would still be up that night, so he headed over to their Allandale apartment where he frequently went to buy marijuana. He soon realized he had roused the teenager.
He had packed a large handgun-sized pellet gun, a black extendable baton with a wide shaft and what he described as a special forces tactical flashlight that can zoom in and out, flash like a beacon or quickly like a strobe all inside a black duffel bag for possible trade. He said he also had $10 or $20.
The two then went inside and as they were going through the items in Nick’s bedroom, Daley testified James appeared at the threshold and an argument soon erupted about money James insisted was owed to him, but that Daley denied.
Daley said when James said: “You’re either going to give me the items… or I’ll fucking kill you” he started packing up the duffel bag.
Daley said the two men, who were never armed, then attacked him. He said he suffered blows to his head and his body.
“James said: ‘Shut up you fucking nigger,’” Daley told the court. “I got out the knife… to initially scare them.
“I had to use it further.”
He said Nick had opened the balcony door and the two men were forcing him backward toward the balcony and he feared that they were going to throw him off it or kill him with his knife.
He said there was a struggle over the knife and he sliced a finger on his left hand which gushed blood.
When they backed off, he said he went to collect his things but couldn’t find them all so he took Nick’s PS3 video game console as collateral.
“It wasn’t my intent for them to die,” he said.
Daley denied under cross-examination by Crown attorney Ray Williams that he was angry at the men for making him wait at a local convenience store for an hour so that he could buy marijuana two days earlier.
Williams will continue his cross examination when the trial resumes Wednesday.
