Judge-alone trial begins for man accused of stabbing North York woman

Garvin Kerr is still shaken recalling what happened on Nov. 22, 2020, when he was awakened to hear his neighbour calling for help, screaming that she was being stabbed.

Kerr testified in front of a judge-alone trial for Wadea Al-Lala, charged with the second-degree murder of 41-year-old Maryanne Blandizzi. Kerry said he looked into the hallway outside his fifth-floor apartment at 105 Rowena Dr. to see Blandizzi with a knife sticking out of her right shoulder.

He also recognized the man stabbing her as Mr. Al-Lala, a man he had met twice before, the two nights prior.

Kerr said Al-Lala appeared to be trying to console Blandizzi though he wasn’t saying anything. Kerr said as he was returning to his suite to call 911, he watched as Blandizzi tried to go back into her apartment.

“It was like she fell, like somebody tackled her and he kept stabbing her in the back,” Kerr recalled.

From inside his apartment, Kerr said he watched through the peephole as Al-Lala stabbed her 16 or 17 times.

“She wasn’t moving anymore, she wasn’t saying anything either,” he told Crown prosecutor Daniel De Santis. It’s then that he said his next door neighbour came out and said, “If you don’t stop stabbing her, I’m going to hit you,” at which point the neighbour hit him two or three times with a baseball bat, causing Al-Lala to drop the knife.

Kerr said the knife broke and fell to the floor, at which point Al-Lala picked up the knife and started stabbing Blandizzi again, saying there was blood on the knife and hands.

Kerr described Al-Lala’s face as “just like the Terminator. Just a numb look.”

Kerr said his neighbour returned to his apartment and Al-Lala eventually stopped stabbing Blandizzi, turned and went down the staircase. He went back into the hallway and his other neighbour was about to start CPR but the fire department arrived and took over.

“The knife was on the side of Maryanne, full of blood,” Kerr recalled.

The defence has indicated to Madam Justice Katherine Corrick that it will be bringing a not criminally responsible application. Al-Lala has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder. Court has heard that the matter of Al-Lala’s identification is not an issue.

Kerr said he recalled briefly meeting Al-Lala who was 21 at the time, in Blandizzi’s apartment, where Kerr often went to hang out on the two nights prior to the fatal stabbing. On Nov. 21, he arrived at Blandizzi’s apartment around 9:30 p.m. and saw Al-Lala sitting on the sofa in the living room.

He said he and Al-Lala spoke about relationships and had a chuckle about making dumplings on the stove. Kerr said there was also a language barrier.

Kerr said he went home a short time later because he wasn’t feeling well and never saw Blandizzi or Al-Lala again until the stabbing the next day.

Upon cross-examination, Kerr also recalled that he had told investigators in a statement on the night of the incident that he had also met Al-Lala on Nov. 20, 2020, in Blandizzi’s apartment. He recalled Al-Lala was over at her house because she was helping him with applying for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), funding offered by the government during COVID.

1:58 Toronto woman fatally stabbed remembered as kind, caring woman

Kerr recalled Blandizzi had helped a number of other friends apply for CERB, including himself.

Blandizzi’s mother, Lili Blandizzi, and best friend, Raegan Burrage, spoke to Global News outside court saying they are upset to learn the accused’s lawyers will be arguing that he should be found not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.

“I’m angry. I think it’s a cop out and I’m just unspeakably angry,” said Burrage, remembering Blandizzi as the light of every room and every party, who had a kind and gentle heart.

“To hear all this, what was done to her is horrible. She didn’t deserve any of this,” Lila Blandizzi added, remembering her only child as a woman who was beautiful in every way.

“Helpful, volunteer, blood donor, she worked all her life with the public, she loved people. That’s Maryanne.”

The trial continues.