Teacher, students who witnessed deadly classroom attack in Leduc testify during murder trial

Jennifer Winkler, 17, was stabbed at Christ the King School in Leduc on Monday, March 15, 2021, and succumbed to her injuries in hospital. (Credit: JD Winkler)

Family and friends of a Leduc teen who was killed while attending school packed into a Wetaskiwin courtroom this week.

Jennifer Winkler, 17, was attacked in her classroom at Christ King High School on March 15, 2021.

The classmate charged with her death, Dylan Pountney, now 23, is on trial for first degree murder.

The trial started on Monday with several RCMP officers and a video of the statement Pountney gave to police after his arrest, all part of "voir dire" – the judge must first rule whether that evidence is admissible before details are allowed to be reported.

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On Tuesday, an RCMP forensic identification specialist was before the court, with several items that were seized from the classroom crime scene to enter into evidence at trial.

Sgt. Michael Bowers removed the items from sealed plastic and paper evidence bags to show the court.

"This is the plastic knife handle and plastic sheath," Bowers said.

He did the same unsealing process for a purple knife blade.

"What's the length of that knife blade?" asked Crown prosecutor Jeff Rudiak.

"Approximately 18 to 19 centimetres, just the blade portion of it," Sgt. Bowers replied.

Paramedic who treated teen testifies

An advanced care paramedic was next to testify. Emily Montgomery told the court she and her partner were out of service at the time the call came in.

She said as they backed the ambulance into the fire hall she noticed the deputy fire chief leaving and saw the EMS call he was responding to on a screen.

Montgomery added the deputy chief didn't have medical training so they volunteered for the call.

"We radioed and said we are available at one house, do you need us," she said, adding "we didn't know what we were going to."

Montgomery said as they arrived at the school, less than five minutes away, they came across the deputy chief.

"He yelled at us, 'Hurry up, she's bleeding out'," Montgomery said.

She said they had an RCMP escort and saw several officers at different points as they ran through the school to Winkler.

"They were all in a reactive stance," said Montgomery.

"RCMP had their weapons out?" asked Rudiak.

"Yes," she said.

She said by the time they got to Winkler "there was an excessive amount of blood."

Not knowing the source of her bleeding, and based on the amount of blood lost, they called for STARS air ambulance because she said it's the only service that carries blood.

"I knew that she would need blood to buy time to get to the operating table," Montgomery told the court, adding Winkler was still breathing but it was slow.

"She was in irreversible shock," Montgomery said.

"Their body is trying to shut down," she explained.

She said STARS arrived two minutes after they had to start compressions on the teen.

Lawsuit against Leduc Fire Department part of cross examination

During cross-examination, defence lawyer Derek Anderson focused his questions on the response to the call. Then asked the paramedic about a sexual harassment and bullying lawsuit that had been launched against the Leduc Fire Department around the same time.

"I'm going to need some explanation as to why that would be relevant," the judge interrupted, before then asking the witness to leave the courtroom.

Anderson then explained to the court a number of complainants and people found to be offenders in the lawsuit had responded to the call at the school

"They're all being forced to work together on this call," Anderson said, suggesting a toxic work environment could have contributed to delays.

The judge asked if Anderson thought a delay in response contributed to the cause of death.

"It played a role," Anderson said.

"Is it your intention to call some evidence to suggest that?" the judge asked.

"There may be some evidence," replied Anderson.

Montgomery was then brought back into the courtroom for Anderson to finish cross-examination.

"Did it cause difficulty responding to calls, to work with people who have been accused of assaulting coworkers," he asked.

"At the end of the day no," said Montgomery. "We need to focus on the people that we were there to treat," she added.

Court hears from teacher, students who witnessed attack

The final witness on Tuesday was a teacher, whose identity is protected under a publication ban.

She told the court the only thing out of the ordinary that day was that Pountney had engaged in class discussions.

"Did he ever join the discussion previously," Rudiak asked.

"No," she said.

Then Rudiak asked what happened during the class break.

"Before he left Dylan chatted with me about the weather," the teacher said.

"That was a regular occurrence for me to have small talk with him," she added.

She told the court she was at her desk, looking at her phone, when something caught her attention.

"When I looked up Dylan was stabbing her," she said.

"I didn't know what was happening at first," she said.

"I started yelling, 'What are you doing?' and to stop."

She said Winkler was sitting at her desk when Pountney began stabbing her.

She couldn't remember if Pountney said anything and didn't recall seeing the knife.

"Initially I almost thought he was hitting her with something because my brain couldn't compute what was happening," she said.

"It was nonstop. He didn't stop when she put her hands up. He didn't stop when I started yelling or screaming. He just kept going," she said.

She said Pountney ran from the classroom and saw Jennifer lying face down at the front of the class.

She said there were between six to 10 students in the classroom when it happened.

"Afterwards when he ran out I remember looking at the kids to my right, I remember them looking at me and they were all shocked," she told the court.

Three of those students were called to court on Wednesday, day three of the trial. Their identities are also protected by a publication ban.

The first to testify remembers seeing "Dylan stab Jennifer in the classroom".

Rudiak asked the student if Pountney said anything during the attack.

"He yelled to her to reply and that was the only word he said," the student answered.

"Did Jennifer say anything back," Rudiak asked.

"No," replied the student.

A second student to testify heard Pountney say something similar.

"From what I can remember he was yelling either answer me or reply," she said. "It was almost like he was eager for an answer.

She also told the court she didn't realize what was happening to Winkler at first.

"He kind of came up from behind her and I thought he was hugging her or something and then I just saw his arms swinging up and down," she said.

She said the teacher was "frantically panicking" then looked at Jennifer and "saw a pool of blood on the floor."

Rudiak asked what was going through her mind when it was all happening.

"Honestly there was nothing going on in my mind 'cause it was a state of shock that I was in," she recalled.

A third student told the court she was three chairs away from where Jennifer was sitting.

"And then he was running towards her and I thought at first they were just fooling around," she said, "He stabbed her."

During cross-examination Anderson questioned the students whether they had seen any news reports about the trial since it started on Monday.

He also questioned them about their memory of other details, like what they had for breakfast or what was said during conversations they had that morning.

The court will hear from the medical examiner when the trial resumes on Thursday.