In a Barrie courtroom today, a pair of Ontario Provincial Police officers described arriving at the scene of a stabbing in Midland that left Christopher Forrester dead nine days before Christmas 2021.

Monday’s proceedings were part of the Crown’s evidence in the second-degree murder trial of Rick Patrick, who killed Forrester in what he claims was an act of self-defense.

“I lifted his shirt (and) I saw one stab wound,” testified Southern Georgian Bay OPP Det.-Const. Mike Gentle. “…(Forrester had) only one statement that ‘I just wanted to talk to him.’

Plainclothes, wearing a crisp gray suit, Gentle testified in a matter-of-fact way about trying to administer first aid to Forrester, who Gentle said initially tried to flee the scene.

“There was pain and agony, rolling from side to side as I tried to put pressure on the wound,” Gentle testified. “I could tell (that) he was in a lot of pain.”

Both Gentle and Const. Stefan Racine, who has since been promoted to staff sergeant, arrived at the scene near Patrick’s residence on Galloway Boulevard in Midland, about a minute away.

Once there, Gentle attended to Forrester, who was dying in the driveway, while Racine went to Patrick who was “waving frantically” while sitting under a tree at the house next door.

The call was a “code zero,” which is the highest priority in the scoring system the OPP uses to designate calls by urgency.

Both police officers arrived at the scene around 10:20 p.m.

Earlier on Monday, Imelda Concepcion testified through an interpreter in Tagalog, the main dialect spoken by Filipinos, about what she witnessed while walking her dog that night. She testified that she saw two men on the cold and windy evening.

Although Concepcion testified that she could not provide much detail about what each man looked like, it was clear from her description that one was Forrester, the smaller and younger of the two, and the other was Patrick.

“When he saw me, he said ‘call the police, call the police,'” Concepcion testified, referring to the second man, who had “white hair.”

Concepcion said the entire interaction she witnessed lasted less than 60 seconds, maybe even 30 seconds, and took place around 10 p.m., although she was not specific in her testimony about the exact time .

After being urged to call the police a second time by the white-haired man, Concepcion said the young man gave a “teasing” tone in response to the older man’s pleas.

Alarmed by what she witnessed and increasingly frightened, she testified that she quickly fled the scene with her golden Labrador.

Concepcion was followed on the witness stand by Margaret Nicol, Forrester’s former neighbor on Vic’s Road in Midland.

The elderly woman testified about her generally favorable impression of her much younger neighbor, saying she often saw him tending to his garden on the property where he rented a trailer that was owned by the accused.

In the case of the Crown, the relationship between Forrester and Patrick deteriorated due to various issues related to the landlord-tenant arrangement.

From the stand, Nicol said he saw the accused driving down Vic’s Road and waving at Forrester as he passed the trailer.

“He was driving a few times a week,” Nicol testified. “I would see him (slamming the window) down, punching.”

Racine was the last witness of the day, and toward the end of his testimony, he described Patrick’s arrest on a charge of aggravated assault and being placed in the back of his police vehicle.

During the short ride back to the detachment, Patrick, unprompted, spoke at length about what happened on Galloway Avenue, the court officer said.

“He just kept talking and talking,” Racine testified. “I couldn’t stop him — (it was like) verbal diarrhea.”

Once back at the detachment, Racine and his colleagues were processing Patrick when he got a call.

“I learned that Christopher Forrester was pronounced dead at Georgian Bay Hospital (in Midland),” Racine testified.

It was 11:15 p.m., about 54 minutes after Racine and Gentle arrived at the scene of the stabbing.

The trial before Superior Court Judge Clyde Smith continues Tuesday.