WARNING: This story contains graphic content
Nicholas Butcher told the court at his second-degree murder trial that he was acting in self-defence when he killed his girlfriend, popular Halifax yoga instructor Kristin Johnston, on March 26, 2016.
“When I woke up, someone was on top of me stabbing me in the throat,” Butcher told the 14-member jury in Nova Scotia Supreme Court on Friday.
The Halifax man told the court that it was dark and he couldn’t see who it was. He said he “flipped the person over onto the other side of the bed,” got ahold of the knife and stabbed the person “three or four times in the throat.”
“I reached over and I turned on the lamp and the person that was beneath me was Kristin and she was dead,” Butcher said on the stand through tears.
“I thought to myself, I have to die too. I can’t live having killed someone.”
READ MORE: Man accused of killing Kristin Johnston takes stand in own defence
Butcher told the court he then took the knife that he used to stab Kristin and slit his wrists. When that didn’t work, Butcher said he went to the bathroom, grabbed a razor blade and slit his wrists with that.
He said he then laid on the bed with Johnston, waiting to die.
“It seemed like an eternity,” Butcher said.
Butcher said after that suicide attempt didn’t work, he thought if he made a worse cut he would die sooner. He testified that it was then he grabbed a mitre saw and cut off his right hand.
Butcher said he briefly lost consciousness when the saw went through the bone.
“When I woke up, I was in more pain than I’d ever been in my entire life,” Butcher testified. “I could feel my hand, but it wasn’t there.”
Butcher told the court his body was moving towards the phone to call 911, but that his mind was telling him to lay down and die.
“In my head I was screaming, ‘Just die, just die,’” Butcher sobbed.
Butcher said he was able to call 911 with his left hand. Court has previously heard that Butcher called 911 and told the dispatcher he had killed his girlfriend and tried to kill himself by cutting off his hand.
WARNING: The call contains graphic content and may be disturbing to some.
Crown prosecutor Carla Ball cross-examined Butcher on Friday afternoon, pressing him on the 911 call. Ball said that on six different occasions, Butcher said he killed his girlfriend and tried to kill himself, but never mentioned that he was attacked.
“I wasn’t giving them a narrative of what happened that night,” Butcher said on the stand. “Why would I say that to a 911 operator? … I think I was in shock.”
Ball then noted that he wasn’t too in shock to confirm his address to the 911 dispatcher multiple times.
Butcher earlier testified he had picked up Johnston on the night of her death from a home where she had been drinking with friends. He told the court she was drunk and was with a man named Mike in his bedroom.
The Crown pressed Butcher on his decision to go through Johnston’s Facebook messages to figure out where she was. Butcher said he was only on her laptop to turn off blaring music, then noticed messages from a man he didn’t recognize.
Butcher assumed Johnston had gone to a party.
“I decided to stop in and see what was going on,” Butcher testified.
Ball questioned Butcher on his decision to wait outside the man’s house for an hour-and-a-half while Johnston was inside. Butcher said he was concerned for Johnston’s safety, as she seemed intoxicated when he spoke to her earlier.
Butcher began his testimony in Nova Scotia Supreme Court on Thursday, describing messages he exchanged with Johnston and the stress she was feeling as her yoga studio in Halifax was failing.
In one of the exchanges, Johnston tells Butcher she loves him and is grateful for him.
Nicholas Butcher will return to the stand on Monday at 9:30 a.m. for more cross-examination from the Crown.
WATCH: Jury in Nicholas Butcher trial hears 911 call
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