Man who killed 3 Moncton Mounties on trial for alleged prison assault

A trial for an alleged prison assault began Wednesday in New Brunswick for a man who killed three Mounties in Moncton in 2014.

Justin Christen Bourque, 35, is being tried in Miramichi provincial court on two charges. It's alleged he committed aggravated assault by wounding Chase Spence and had a shank, a homemade weapon, on May 3, 2022, at the Atlantic Institution. 

Bourque is serving life sentences at the maximum-security prison in Renous, about 30 kilometres southwest of Miramichi.

Bourque is being tried alongside Christian Enang Clyke of Halifax.

Correctional officers at the prison testified about seeing Bourque and Clyke appear to stab Chase near a common room around 1:30 p.m. moments after Spence was moved into the unit with them.

Keitha Keating, an acting security intelligence officer who works at the prison, testified about retrieving surveillance of the alleged assault. 

The video shows Spence walking into a hall holding bags of his belongings followed by Bourque. Spence appears to look in several cells before walking back toward Bourque. The two appear to exchange words. The video doesn't include any audio. It then shows Spence step back and then appear to punch at Bourque's neck.

Bourque pulled his hands from his pockets, with Keating testifying he appeared to be holding a shank. Spence then reaches into his waistband. Keating said it was later determined he also had a weapon.

Clyke and other inmates walked into the hall as the fight continued. Spence threw a bag at Bourque and ran past the other inmates. Keating said it appeared in the video that Clyke and Bourque had weapons. 

Spence ran to an area closer to a control station, where a correctional officer was posted, and fell to the floor as Clyke closed in on him. Bourque followed, though what transpired is largely out of frame in the video. 

Shortly after, Clyke and Bourque walk away, with blood falling from Clyke's arm. Another angle showed Clyke taking off his shirt to wrap a wound. 

The video shown to Judge Johanne-Marguerite Landry shows Bourque go to where Keating said there's a sink in the common room, and then returning to the hallway with the cell doors, where Keating said he appears to put something under a cell door. Spence got up and walked toward a door, also leaving a trail of blood.

Michael Simon, a correctional officer in the control point near where the incident happened, testified he saw both Clyke and Bourque with shanks stabbing Spence while he was on the floor. 

Simon testified he used pepper spray to try to halt the fight, and when they continued, he grabbed a C8 rifle. He said he ordered them to stop and the fight ended.