A murder trial has begun for a Midland man accused of stabbing his tenant nine days before Christmas 2021.

Richard “Rick” Patrick, 68, of Midland, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of 36-year-old Christopher Forrester.

The trial is being held at the Barrie Courthouse before Superior Court Judge Clyde Smith

“I just wanted to talk to him,” the victim reportedly told a first responder as she lay dying at the scene near Patrick’s residence on Galloway Avenue in Midland.

The knife used was recovered in another alley down, the court heard.

Summoning the deceased to begin his opening statement, Crown attorney Dennis Chronopoulos presented his case to the jury, which was selected earlier Tuesday.

Chronopoulos said Forrester’s death was the result of a dispute between “two former friends” whose relationship fell apart after the victim became Patrick’s tenant.

Forrester later died at Georgian Bay General Hospital in Midland from a single, 10-centimeter-deep stab wound that pierced his aorta as it made its fatal path through the victim’s chest, Chronopoulos said in his opening statement.

Among the pleas agreed in the case is that Forrester was wanted on a mischief charge for allegedly slashing a tire on Patrick’s vehicle.

The deceased was serving a 60-day sentence of house arrest for an unrelated assault case at the time of his death. House arrest was being carried out at the trailer owned by Patrick and rented from him by Forrester.

Chronopoulos told the jury that the two men had been in dispute over issues related to Forrester’s rental beyond the alleged tire slashing. For example, Patrick thought Forrester cut the trailer maintenance cable at 8 Vics Rd., in Midland.

A hearing has been scheduled for January 2022 to address these issues.

“That hearing never happened,” Chronopoulos said in his opening remarks.

That Patrick stabbed Forrest is not in dispute, Chronopoulos said. That was the most significant of the agreed facts the jury was told before court adjourned for the day on Tuesday.

Earlier, while outlining a number of factors that must go before a jury, Chronopoulos told them that “you are the masters of the facts.”

The Crown will try to prove Patrick had the “requisite intent and (this case) is not self-defense,” he added later.

Patrick’s lawyer, Alison Craig, is expected to argue that her client acted in self-defence.

The trial continues Wednesday morning, when the jury is expected to hear two 911 calls — one from the accused and the other from the victim, which was made before he succumbed to his injuries.