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Accused in stabbing `had no choice'
Was attacked by victim, trial told

Student, 20, killed at local nightclub

PETER SMALL
STAFF REPORTER

A man accused of fatally stabbing a student during a rave party at The Docks says he was just defending himself from a large stranger with a knife.

"I just wanted to get away," a tearful Jeffrey Tuck said when he testified in his defence yesterday. "He grabbed on to me. I had to do it. I had no choice. I didn't want to hurt him."

The 24-year-old Scarborough man has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the Feb. 4, 2001, stabbing death of Salim Jabaji, 20, a top engineering student at Hamilton's Mohawk College.

Tuck told a Superior Court jury that he went into the Toronto waterfront nightclub behind his friends, twin brothers David and Charlie Coulter.

On the crowded dance floor, Charlie Coulter got into a brief scuffle with a rave regular, Robert Conejeros, Tuck said. Conejeros then attacked Coulter two separate times before a bouncer beat him up, he said.

Conejeros, a friend of Jabaji's, has testified that Charlie Coulter was the attacker.

Tuck said he then tried to leave but saw a stranger built like a football linebacker staring angrily, swearing and blocking his way. "I was scared," he told his lawyer, Christopher Hicks.

"I see the man lift up his arm," Tuck said. "I see what appears to be a knife in his hand."

Tuck said he grabbed the knife with his left hand. "If I didn't get the knife off of him right away, he would have killed me."

He said someone hit him from behind, his ball cap fell over his eyes, blinding him, and he swung his left arm to repel the first attacker. The man then grabbed his hands, Tuck testified. "I pushed him away with both hands."

Tuck said he fled, found the Coulter brothers, and told them he escaped from a man with a knife but might have stabbed him. He still had the knife and noticed his hands were bleeding, Tuck said. David Coulter took the knife away and he never saw it again, he added.

In his cross-examination, Crown prosecutor Robin Flumerfelt suggested Tuck was a bully who pulled his knife on Jabaji. "You thought you could get away with it because it was dark," he said.

"That's not true," Tuck replied.

Flumerfelt suggested Tuck realized afterward that he had a problem because he bled at the scene and his DNA would incriminate him. So he conspired with the Coulter brothers to say he had killed in self-defence, but later tried to revise his story because it was flimsy, the Crown said.

"Nothing was made up," Tuck replied.

Flumerfelt referred Tuck to transcripts of secretly recorded phone calls in which he discussed the slaying with Charlie Coulter. "In those three hours of conversations, you never talk about defending yourself," he said.

Tuck replied he never discussed details in those calls.

"You stabbed and ended the life of this straight-A student who had taken time off his co-op term to look after his parents because he attacked you with a knife?" Flumerfelt asked.

"He tried to kill me," Tuck said. "What was I supposed to do?"

The trial continues today.

October 21st, 2005, 08:59 AM	#4
anabolic frolic Administrator Join Date: May 1999 Location: HullaLand Photos: 125 Journal Entries: 5	Accused in stabbing `had no choice' Was attacked by victim, trial told Student, 20, killed at local nightclub PETER SMALL STAFF REPORTER A man accused of fatally stabbing a student during a rave party at The Docks says he was just defending himself from a large stranger with a knife. "I just wanted to get away," a tearful Jeffrey Tuck said when he testified in his defence yesterday. "He grabbed on to me. I had to do it. I had no choice. I didn't want to hurt him." The 24-year-old Scarborough man has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the Feb. 4, 2001, stabbing death of Salim Jabaji, 20, a top engineering student at Hamilton's Mohawk College. Tuck told a Superior Court jury that he went into the Toronto waterfront nightclub behind his friends, twin brothers David and Charlie Coulter. On the crowded dance floor, Charlie Coulter got into a brief scuffle with a rave regular, Robert Conejeros, Tuck said. Conejeros then attacked Coulter two separate times before a bouncer beat him up, he said. Conejeros, a friend of Jabaji's, has testified that Charlie Coulter was the attacker. Tuck said he then tried to leave but saw a stranger built like a football linebacker staring angrily, swearing and blocking his way. "I was scared," he told his lawyer, Christopher Hicks. "I see the man lift up his arm," Tuck said. "I see what appears to be a knife in his hand." Tuck said he grabbed the knife with his left hand. "If I didn't get the knife off of him right away, he would have killed me." He said someone hit him from behind, his ball cap fell over his eyes, blinding him, and he swung his left arm to repel the first attacker. The man then grabbed his hands, Tuck testified. "I pushed him away with both hands." Tuck said he fled, found the Coulter brothers, and told them he escaped from a man with a knife but might have stabbed him. He still had the knife and noticed his hands were bleeding, Tuck said. David Coulter took the knife away and he never saw it again, he added. In his cross-examination, Crown prosecutor Robin Flumerfelt suggested Tuck was a bully who pulled his knife on Jabaji. "You thought you could get away with it because it was dark," he said. "That's not true," Tuck replied. Flumerfelt suggested Tuck realized afterward that he had a problem because he bled at the scene and his DNA would incriminate him. So he conspired with the Coulter brothers to say he had killed in self-defence, but later tried to revise his story because it was flimsy, the Crown said. "Nothing was made up," Tuck replied. Flumerfelt referred Tuck to transcripts of secretly recorded phone calls in which he discussed the slaying with Charlie Coulter. "In those three hours of conversations, you never talk about defending yourself," he said. Tuck replied he never discussed details in those calls. "You stabbed and ended the life of this straight-A student who had taken time off his co-op term to look after his parents because he attacked you with a knife?" Flumerfelt asked. "He tried to kill me," Tuck said. "What was I supposed to do?" The trial continues today.