Yosif Al-Hasnawi died with 2L of blood in his abdomen, court hears

Yosif Al-Hasnawi, a so-called "Good Samaritan" who died from a single gunshot wound, had two litres of blood in his abdomen when he died as much as a large bottle of Coca-Cola.

This is according toElena Bulakhtina, the forensic pathologist who did the autopsy, at the second-degree murder trial of Dale Burningsky King on Friday.

The bullet wound was small, witnesses have said during the three-week jury trial. But about 23 minutes passed between when paramedics arrived on scene and when they left for the hospital.

And in that time,the bleeding inside the Brock University student was "fast and severe,"Bulakhtina said.

The bullet damagedtwo major arteries, she said,including the common iliac artery.

The bleeding would have been "difficult to contain," she said. As a result, there was two litres of blood in his abdominal cavity.

With bullet wounds similar to Al-Hasnawi's, Bulakhtina said, the survival rate is 38 to 51 per cent, although that decreases drastically as moments pass. Al-Hasnawi lost consciousness four minutes before he arrived at St. Joseph's hospital.

Doctors there attempted athoracotomy, but by the time the injury reaches that stage, the survival rate is between zero and 18 per cent, she said.

"As the blood loss progresses, the blood pressure goes down," she said. "At some point, the blood pressure will be so low that there won't be enough supply of oxygen to the brain."

Al-Hasnawi, 19, died on Dec. 2, 2017 after being shot once byKing, who has pleaded not guilty.

King's lawyers agree that he pulled the trigger, but say it was in self defence. The lawyers also argue that Al-Hasnawi could have survived if paramedics have moved faster.

The shooting happened around 9 p.m., after King, 21, and James Mathesonwalked past aMain Street East mosque. Al-Hasnawi was standing outside with his little brother and two friends.

The pair were bothering an older man, the court has heard. Al-Hasnawi shouted at them to stop, and the pair crossed the street to talk to him.

The conversation became tense, and Matheson sucker-punched Al-Hasnawi in the head, says an agreed statement of facts.They ran andAl-Hasnawi chased them.

As they ran, the statement says, King turned and shot Al-Hasnawi once in the abdomen.

Al-Hasnawi was shot from a distance of at least one metre based on the lack of powder burns and stippling around the wound, she said.

One witness said last week he thought Al-Hasnawi had been shot with a BB gun, and told him so as he was dying on the sidewalk. Witnesses say paramedics appeared to repeat the BB gun claim and told Al-Hasnawi he could win an Oscar for his performance.

Two paramedics face a criminal trial in January.

The court also heard from a toxicologist, Nathalie Desrosiers, from the Centre for Forensic Sciences. She analyzed two blood and one urine sample from Al-Hasnawi, and ablood sample found a small amount of methamphetamine.

Desrosiers said with that amount in his blood, Al-Hasnawi would have taken meth between one and three days before the incident.

Using the street drug isn't the only way to ingest it, she said. It is present in non-stimulant form in adecongestant, but only in the U.S. So its presence in blood samples in Canada from the decongestant is "rare."

The Crown also called Paul Cowell, the older man who was being harassed that night.

Cowell was living at St. Francis Lodge, a residential care rooming house on Proctor Boulevard. He liked to go to Cadillac Jack's for three or four tall boys, he said. He left the bar just before 9 p.m. that night carrying a Denninger's shopping bag.

Watching surveillancevideo, he agreed that someone must have said something to him as he was walking, but he couldn't remember.

King's trial is in superior court at Hamilton's John Sopinka courthouse.