Judge to rule on Justin Bourque's alleged prison stabbing in September

A judge will rule in September whether Justin Bourque and another man are guilty of stabbing a third man with shanks in a prison three years ago.

Bourque and Christian Clyke stood trial over two days in Miramichi provincial court on two charges alleging they had shanks, or homemade weapons, and assaulted Chase Spence at the Atlantic Institution on May 3, 2022. 

Bourque is serving life sentences at the maximum security prison southwest of Miramichi for the 2014 murders of three RCMP officers in Moncton. 

Bourque's lawyer Simon Wood gave a closing argument Thursday afternoon saying the Crown had failed to prove the allegations against the 35-year-old. Bourque offered no defence evidence and opted not to testify.

Clyke, who doesn't have a lawyer, took the stand to testify and argued he acted in self-defence when he stabbed Spence because Spence had sent a note the day before threatening violence, and attacked Bourque first. 

Crown prosecutor Jean-Guy Savoie argued self-defence wouldn't apply even if Spence started the fight, saying it became a two-on-one attack with Spence trying to run and continued after he fell to the floor. 

After hearing the testimony from six Crown witnesses and Clyke himself, Judge Johanne-Marguerite Landry said she would need more time to consider her verdict. 

Landry is scheduled to give her decision on Sept. 10.

The trial began Wednesday and much of the two-day trial focused on surveillance video that captured most of the events. It showed Chase Spence entering the prison unit with Bourque and Clyke around 1:30 p.m.

Spence walked down a hall with cell doors as Bourque followed him. There appeared to be words exchanged, though the video had no audio, and Spence appeared to punch at Bourque's neck followed by Bourque pulling out a shank.

Clyke said he wanted to testify about what transpired, telling the judge he acted in self-defence. 

Clyke told the judge that the day before, a note known as a "kite" was passed through a prison door from another unit that he was told had been sent by Spence. Clyke testified the note said he was moving to the unit with Clyke and Bourque, and that he would "take a run at," or attack, the first person he encountered.

Clyke testified he passed the note around the unit after receiving it.

He said he watched Spence walk down the hall and then attack Bourque before turning and running toward Clyke and other inmates.