BY KEITH LACEY
A woman sobbed uncontrollably while testifying she thought she was going to die during a brutal knife attack in the Flour Mill last July.
The stabbing victim, 36, said her boyfriend at the time, Michael Sellen, 47, threw her against a rock cut splitting her head open and then repeatedly
stabbed her while she begged for her life.
Sellen has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and possession of a weapon.
Defence counsel Herve Sauve suggested during cross-examination Thursday the woman had been on an extended drug binge, owed drug money
to Sellen, and blamed him for an attack he didn?t commit.
The alleged incident took place in the early morning hours of July 22, 2004. Sellen was arrested the next day and has remained in custody at the Sudbury District Jail
?I said Mike what are you doing, what are you doing...you?re going to kill me,? the woman said.
?He was just looking at me and didn?t say anything...I said Mike stop you are going to kill me and he kept stabbing me.
?I thought this was it, I was going to die.?
Late in the 15-minute attack, Sellen tried to slit her throat, but she managed to squeeze her chin tightly against her chest, she said.
There?s no doubt in her mind Sellen was trying to murder her, she said.
?I thought I was going to die because he wasn?t stopping,? she said. ?I felt he was intent on killing me.?
She believes her life was saved by a stranger who approached her in a red car.
The woman approached and asked if she was all right. Sellen then calmly placed the knife inside a pouch he always carried on his belt and walked away without saying a word, she said.
The stranger called an ambulance, placed her head in her lap, held her hand and comforted her until police and ambulance arrived a few minutes later, she said.
?I was grateful I was still alive...I didn?t know if I was going to make it,? she said. ?I was so grateful she was there...as far as I?m concerned, she was my angel that night.?
She needed eight staples placed in her head to close the wound caused from being thrown into the rock cut and spent three days in hospital recovering from her numerous stab wounds, she said.
She and Sellen had a tumultuous relationship over three years that involved a lot of drug abuse, she said.
A few days before this incident, she had returned to her residence and found most of her personal possessions had been removed.
She later discovered them at Sellen?s daughter?s apartment and they argued about her possessions.
Sellen was ?playing with his knife? he always carried in the minutes before the attack, but she wasn?t in fear, she said.
However, seconds after making another comment about her missing possessions, she was attacked, she said.
?Mike got very quiet...I kept walking...he crossed the street and grabbed me and threw me into the rock cut and then he stabbed me a couple of
times,? she said before breaking into uncontrollable sobs.
The woman admitted she has a record dating back 23 years and has spent much of her life behind bars and has a longstanding addiction to cocaine.
The trial is scheduled to last until the end of next week.
