Some were armed with beer bottles after drinking in a nearby apartment building.
Kissick said Elkerton-Sandy had three choices when the mob burst in: run, take a beating or defend herself.
Just a minute after the altercation began, 18-year-old Kane Alexanderson treated two stab wounds.Credit:Kane Alexanderson/Facebook
“He chose to stand up to this gang, which was clearly going to do as much harm as possible,” he said.
“There was no stopping and talking, they just rushed him … to flog him.”
Elkerton-Sandy picked up the first thing he could see, and that was the knife, Kissick said.
“If seven people burst into your house unexpectedly, what would you do?” he asked the jury.
“This wasn’t just a bunch of friends coming over… it was a gang on the run.
“He was attacked the moment those men came through that door as a pack.
“This was a fluid movement of violence. He was the target. He clearly had the right to defend himself.”
Elkerton-Sandy told police he argued with group members because he wanted nothing more to do with their lifestyle, the court heard.
“They weren’t friends anymore; (they) could have been enemies,” Kissick said.
Elkerton-Sandy told police that when the group burst into the 17th floor apartment, they punched and kicked him and smashed bottles over his head.
He claimed he was pressed against the balcony and “hanging half over” before his girlfriend grabbed him, the court heard.
“Why am I getting in trouble… I am the victim,” he told police.
Crown Prosecutor David Nardone said Elkerton-Sandy gave different versions of events to police before telling an undercover officer in a guardhouse cell that he had stabbed three group members.
One was punched in the face, another in the torso and arm, while Alexanderson was stabbed twice, including a two-inch deep wound that pierced his heart.
Nardone said Elkerton-Sandy’s biggest concern just 15 minutes after the attack was the return of his gold necklace, which was lost in the incident.
“The absence of expression of concern (for Alexanderson) corresponds to a person who chose to take part in a fight … because he was armed with a knife and, I would suggest, ready to use it, ” he said.
The jury should question whether Elkerton-Sandy lawfully acted in self-defense when he caused Alexanderson’s death, Nardone said.
The 21-year-old man pleaded not guilty to manslaughter.
The trial for Judge Sean Cooper continues.
-MONKEY
