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Winnipeg boy, 3, told mom he loved her before being fatally stabbed, murder trial hears

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WINNIPEG -

Witnesses recounted the night 3-year-old Hunter Smith-Straight was fatally stabbed in his sleep.

A jury heard the evidence in the trial for Daniel Jensen, who has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the boy’s November 2019 death.

The Crown is arguing Jensen got mad at Hunter’s mom, Clarice Smith, who he was dating at the time and stabbed the child.

It was at the Northern Hotel bar on Main St. where witnesses have told jurors arguments between Jensen and Smith escalated into violence.

The Crown alleges on Oct. 30, 2019, Jensen assaulted Smith at the bar before walking to the couple’s Pritchard Avenue home where Hunter was found stabbed.

“He said he was going to take her son,” Olga Kennedy, a friend of Smith’s, testified about an argument she heard between the couple before they got to the bar.

Kennedy told the jury the comment was first made while she was out for the evening with a group of friends during a car ride from Kennedy’s apartment to Jensen and Smith’s home.

She testified she walked inside the home with Smith after Jensen made the comment and told the jury Smith started getting Hunter dressed. The trial heard relatives had been looking after the child.

“I asked where she’s taking him,” Kennedy told jurors. “I told her that she should just let him sleep.”

“He laid back down and told his mom he loved her.”

After stopping at the home, Kennedy told jurors the group carried on to the Northern Hotel where Jensen and Smith continued arguing

“He was being mean to Clarice with his words,” Kennedy told jurors.

She testified she stepped outside the bar for a smoke but then heard a ruckus inside.

“I went in the bathroom and Clarice was bleeding from her nose,” Kennedy told the jury.

She testified she went back outside and saw Jensen walking backwards away from the bar, waving his hands towards his body which she interpreted as him gesturing to “bring it on.”

Bar employees testified they also heard the couple arguing and saw Smith bleeding.

“I heard a couple customers screaming for me,” vendor attendant Shaun Soltes testified.

He too gave evidence he saw Jensen leave the bar shortly after discovering Smith bleeding and made sure he was gone.

His co-worker, bartender Elaine Cook, told the court she went to help Smith.

“Clarice was crouched down and she was bleeding,” Cook testified. “She was crying.”

Court heard Smith went back to her friend’s place after leaving the bar, arranging for family to continue caring for Hunter. It wasn’t long before she got a call telling her to get home after the boy was found critically injured.

Jensen is presumed innocent.

The trial continues Monday. 

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