BY JASON THOMPSON
A man accused of trying to murder his former girlfriend last summer said after a day of drinking and hard drug use he fell asleep in a rail car after they had gotten into an argument, and he didn?t leave her to die after she was stabbed 15 times.
Mike Sellen, 47, who is from Little Current but has lived in Sudbury for many years, testified in court Friday that after he and his girlfriend Helene Goddard, 36, got into an argument, they parted ways.
He only heard she was stabbed when he saw his photo in a local newspaper with a related story saying he was a suspect in attempted murder investigation, said Sellen, who was arrested the day after Goddard was stabbed last July 22 and has remained in custody at the Sudbury District Jail since.
After picking up his welfare cheque valued at $490 from Tom Davies Square, Sellen said he and Goddard spent a long day injecting cocaine and drinking beer at a hotel and the apartment of mutual friends.
By the end of the night, Sellen testified he was broke and had already sold a gold band and borrowed money in order to buy more cocaine.
Sellen testified Goddard was a frequent hard drug user and that most of the veins in her arm had collapsed due to chronic injections.
As a result, Sellen said Goddard required his assistance in injecting the drugs since she could not find a healthy vein nor keep a steady hand while injecting. Sellen explained he had to puncture Goddard?s arm with the needle four or five times in order to find a suitable vein, causing an abnormal
amount of blood to spill from her arm.
Sellen said since he and Goddard were guests at a friend?s house where they injected the cocaine, he didn?t want to soil their towels so he wiped the blood off on his own clothes, explaining earlier testimony from forensic scientists about how so much of Goddard?s blood ended up on his clothing.
With no money left, and only a half of a gram of cocaine between them, Sellen said he and Goddard went to his son?s house to do the cocaine since it was pouring rain outside.
Once they arrived and convinced Sellen?s son to let them inject cocaine in his bathroom, Sellen claims Goddard ran down to the basement apartment
where his daughter lived and began taking possessions she claimed belonged to her.
Goddard earlier testified someone had stolen most of her worldly possessions and she found most of them inside Sellen?s daughter?s apartment.
It was while arguing about those possessions that Sellen attacked her, pushed her head-first into a rock cut, split her head open and repeatedly attacked her with a knife, she said.
Sellen said he coaxed his daughter into letting Goddard take what she wanted and that she would go peaceably. Once outside, Sellen testified Goddard informed him of her plan to trade the goods she had taken from his daughter to purchase more cocaine.
Sellen admitted he became angry with her and smashed a few of the more valuable items in an attempt to keep her from trading it for more cocaine.
Sellen said he walked along the railroad tracks towards New Sudbury, eventually coming across six rail cars and fell asleep for the night, waking at approximately 7 am the next morning.
It wasn?t until Sellen saw his photo in the newspaper that he became aware Goddard had been stabbed and he couldn?t figure out why he was the prime suspect.
Wearing the same blood-stained attire, Sellen was arrested by Greater Sudbury Police while riding his bike on the Hwy. 17 bypass near Long Lake Road, where he was charged.
Assistant Crown attorney Susan Stothart began her cross-examination of Sellen Friday afternoon. Lawyers are expected to make closing arguments early this week.
Justice Ian Gordon of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice will rule whether Sellen is guilty or not guilty.
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