During closing arguments at Justin Bennett’s manslaughter trial, the defence claiming he acted in self-defence when he stabbed his uncle Scott Benett during a confrontation at his grandmother’s house. The prosecution, on the other hand, is arguing that he acted in anger – pointing to the fact that Scott Bennett was stabbed six times.
Defence lawyer Carley Parish says that by the time then 18-year-old Justin Bennett had picked up the knife on February 4, 2015, his 31-year-old uncle had already uttered threats to hurt all three of the young men in the home on the city’s Norris Road. Parish says Justin Bennett did what any reasonable person in those cicumstances would have done.
Crown prosecutor Rebekah Logan, meantime, arguing that there’s no evidence on the record to back up a claim of self defence and there’s no ring of truth that he was defending his friends that night either. Logan says frustration over the years with Scott getting away with things in the Bennett household had caused Justin to lash out in anger – he had had enough.
