Doctor testifies girl had life-threatening injuries from 2022 stabbing attack

A young girl and her surgeon take the stand to talk about the injuries she suffered during the 2022 triple stabbing in Kitchener. CTV’s Spencer Turcotte explain

Warning: Some of the details in this story may be disturbing to some readers.

A young girl continued her testimony Thursday at the trial of Dylon Moreira, while the surgeon who treated her stab wounds described the severity of her injuries.

Moreira is accused of stabbing the then seven-year-old and her mother, who was his girlfriend, as well as his own mother at a Kitchener home on Nov. 15, 2022. The girl’s mother died from her stab wounds.

CTV News is not naming the two adult victims as they might inadvertently reveal the child’s identity, which is protected by a publication ban.

Moreira is charged with second-degree murder for his girlfriend’s death, two counts of attempted murder and two counts of aggravated assault.

Child’s testimony

Moreira’s lawyer continued his cross examination of the girl, who is now 10 years old, on Thursday. She testified virtually from the Child Witness Centre.

“You ran upstairs to your room before anything physical between Dylon and your mom, isn’t that true?” asked Stephen Gehl.

“Yes,” the girl replied.

Gehl then read part of a transcript from a preliminary hearing on April 23, 2024. In it, the girl mentioned Moreira attacked her mom.

“‘I seen him physically pick up a knife and stab her,’” Gehl said aloud, quoting the girl’s previous testimony. “Is that true?”

“Yes,” she answered.

The defence lawyer followed that up with a series of statements.

“I’m going to suggest that Dylon never said, ‘You’re all dead,’” Gehl said. “I’m going to suggest that Dylon never grabbed your mother by the throat… I’m going to suggest that Dylon never threw you to the ground.”

She disagreed with each one.

Then it was the Crown prosecutor’s turn to question the girl.

“How have you been feeling while answering these questions over the last two days?” Thomas Mack asked.

“Nervous,” she answered.

Surgeon and constable testify

The next witness called to the stand was pediatric surgeon Dr. James Bain. He treated the girl’s wounds at McMaster Children’s Hospital following the triple stabbing.

Bain said the girl had a total of nine wounds and he “determined she needed urgent surgery.”

Crown prosecutor Jonathan Janke then asked the doctor to analyze each of her injuries and assess their severity.

Bain called them “life-threatening” and one of the wounds, in her armpit, was “millimetres away from critical structures.”

He told the court the girl was “very fortunate to be able to survive these injuries.”

One of the Waterloo Regional Police officers called to the Cayley Court home in November 2022 also took the stand.

Const. Austin Eaves recalled entering the home with a ballistic shield. He also said he saw a man, covered in blood, lying at the bottom of a set of stairs.

“I observed two legs underneath him,” he said, adding, “There was concern of someone underneath him.”

Eaves told the court officers found a woman who required urgent medical attention.

The man was later identified as Dylon Moreira. When they tried to arrest him, Eaves said he flailed, kicked and shouted: “‘They’re going to kill me’”

During cross examination, defence lawyer Stephen Gehl asked Eaves if he saw any injuries on Moreira’s face that night.

“There was so much blood in that basement I couldn’t tell where the injuries were,” the constable testified.

Moreira’s mother is expected to take the stand on Friday.