Knife likely cause of fatal wound to Brandon Volpi's heart, court hears

Two stab wounds to an Ottawa teen's neck and a fatal wound to his chest during a prom night fight in 2014were likely caused by a sharp-edged knife, an Ottawa pathologist testified in court on Friday.

• Witnesses recount last moments of Brandon Volpi's life after prom night stabbing

Brandon Volpi, 18,was fatally stabbed at around 3:30 a.m. on June 7, 2014 outside Les Suites Hotelon Besserer Street at an after prom party.

Devontay Hackett, now 21, is on trial for second-degree murder in Volpi's death.

Dr. ChristopherMilroy,the director of the Eastern Ontario Regional Forensic Pathology Unit, testifiedat Hackett's murder trial Friday thatthe wounds Volpi sufferedwould have been painful injuries.

"I would expect them to be distressing," said Milroy, who performed the autopsy on Volpi.

Gaping wounds led to bled loss

Milroy described the two gaping wounds on the left side of Volpi's neck and said they were caused by a left-to-right slashing motionfrom a "sharp-edged knife."

The stab wound to the left side of Volpi's chest went 10 centimetres horizontally into his heart, and waswhat caused Volpi to bleed to death, he said.

The Crown did not mentionin their opening submission finding a knife or any weapon related to thecase.

However, aforensic video technician had earlier testifiedthat cellphone video from the night showed Hackett with an object in his hand, both before and after he engaged in a fight with Volpi even thoughno knife could be seen while they actually fought.

Under cross-examination, Milroy conceded that other wounds found on Volpicould have come from pieces of broken glass and that not all of the wounds had to have come from the same object or weapon.

Still, he maintained that all of Volpi's woundswere caused by "sharp-edged objects."

Volpinot intoxicated, pathologist testifies

In earlier testimony, a schoolmate of Brandon Volpi'salso described being hit over the head with a glass bottle that night, near where the fight broke out.

Milroy also said blood-alcohol tests done on Volpi showed he was not drunk that night and that alcoholdid not play a role in his death.

The alcohol in his system was equal to half a pint of beer, he said.