“i went to go look for a weapon because there was six of them and two of us. they were bigger and stronger and they wanted to fight,” he testified. “i was scared i was going to be badly beaten or killed.”
his initial intention in grabbing the kitchen knife was to scare the group off, he testified.
while briefly inside the store, he heard his friend “yelling and screaming” and heard others swearing “followed by a loud crashing sound.”
the jury was shown surveillance video of the fight as one of maloney’s group engaged in a one-on-one fight with osman’s friend and they went crashing to the floor outside the store, near a busy mall exit.
osman was challenged in the crown’s cross-examination by semenoff, who said osman took only “one second” to assess the threat his friend was facing when he exited the store, ducked around the store security guard with the knife at his hip, then used “deadly force” against maloney.
“within one second of leaving the store, your arm is raised to stab marcus maloney,” semenoff said.
neither maloney nor his other friends had joined in the one-on-one “fair fight” and had not engaged with anyone physically in the moments before they were stabbed.
“i didn’t think a fight was going to happen. i went to get a weapon to scare them away,” osman testified. “it was too late for that. i saw my friend on the floor surrounded by a bunch of people, and he was on the floor with one guy on top of him … my mind was racing, i was panicking, i didn’t know if nasir was being stabbed or beaten, and i saw mr. maloney standing near his head.”