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All evidence in the trial against 74-year-old William or “Bill” Kirby has been submitted. Kirby has been charged with attempted murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault and for issuing death threats. The charges stem from an alleged attack on September 13th of 2018 where a victim was found with stab wounds in a wooded area of McNab/Braeside. The former Arnprior resident denied all accusations in his 2.5-days on the stand at the Pembroke courthouse.
The court heard a week after their 18 to 19-year relationship had ended, Kirby met up with the victim to return some belongings. Kirby was convinced she was cheating on him to the point where they spent close to $5,000 getting two lie-detector tests done. Kirby is accused of following the victim to work to see who she would be having her breaks with and spying on her with binoculars he kept under the seat in his vehicle. The victim told the court she would see Kirby’s Hyundai Santa Fe parked across the road from where she worked at Sandvik in Arnprior and when she entered the building he would leave. Crown Attorney Caitlin Downing suggested that Kirby took the victim against her will to a remote area where he tried to kill her.
The victim testified to the court saying when she went to pick up her belongings, she left her car running, unlocked with the drivers window down, thinking she wasn’t going to be long. Her vehicle was found parked across from the Arnprior Humane Society on Didak Drive. The victim was on her 30-minute lunch break and when she got in his vehicle, Kirby took off.
Kirby told the court he wanted to go somewhere private to talk, but later testified that he passed 20 to 30 different locations they could have stopped at. The court heard that Kirby drove the victim roughly 17 kilometers or roughly 20-minutes out to Gunsmith Road in the same area where he used to live and nearby where his dog “Killer” was buried. Kirby admitted to the court that he refused to let the victim out of his car despite being asked two or three times. When the victim said her car was still running, she said Kirby told her to, “let the f******g thing run out of gas”. The victim told the court, “his eyes were scary, I’ve never seen him like that”.
The victim testified that she tried to jump out of the moving vehicle and Kirby threatened to run her over. Kirby told the court she tried to jump out when they were turning and said, “you could have been run over”, not, “go ahead, I’ll run you over”. The victim also testified that she tried to take the keys out of the ignition while the car was moving to escape. Kirby said she hit his arm causing them to almost go into the ditch on White Lake Road and he retaliated by hitting her back. Kirby admitted to hitting the victim out of retaliation, not self-defense. Kirby told the court multiple times that he would never hit someone unless they hit him first. The victim testified that she tried calling for help, but there was no battery in Kirby’s phone and he proceeded to punch her. Kirby told the court the battery was removed before he saw the victim because his phone wasn’t working and he was trying to reset it. Phone records show Kirby making a call shortly before seeing the victim and the next call was to 911 when he was out in the bush on Gunsmith Road. Kirby said he was able to get the phone working to call for help.
It’s alleged that Kirby took the victim to the end of Gunsmith Road, told them to get out of the vehicle, put his hand on their shoulder and said, “today’s your day to die you lying s**t”, before stabbing her. The victim was emotional while telling the court these details. Kirby told the court a different story. He says the victim got out of his vehicle, ran and grabbed a stick and started hitting him with it. Kirby says he grabbed a throwing knife (from a set he was going to gift to the victims son) from his vehicle and told the victim “now we’re even” because she had a stick and he had a knife. Kirby says the victim was cut because he had the knife in his hand when he tried to push her back. The crown argued if that was the case it would have been a slash instead of a clean puncture wound. The crown also pointed out based on where Kirby said he was holding the knife, the wound would have been to the chest not near the belly button. Kirby told the court if he wanted to kill the victim, “she wouldn’t be here today”, and that he would have used the drywall or gyprock knife in the back of his vehicle with his tools.
The victim testified that Kirby told her to walk into the bushes and when she tripped, he kicked her multiple times. The victims glasses and earplugs from work where found nearby. The victim testified that this was the first time a stick was involved as she swung it at Kirby to get him to back off. Kirby had a different version of events telling the court the two walked around in the bushes for roughly an hour and a half and had a couple of cigarettes’ before the victim tripped and fell down a gulley where her ear and neck were cut. Video evidence of the area where the victim was found did not show the gulley described by Kirby. Photos also showed a similar cut on the victims neck to what was found on their stomach. Both cuts were clean punctures. The victim never saw Kirby stab her the second time, but says she was walking in the bushes with Kirby behind her when she felt a sharp pain in the neck and crawled into the fetal position.
An audio recording from a device Kirby had on him at the he was arrested was submitted as evidence. One of the 40-minute recordings captures Kirby trying to take his own life, the victim begging to not be left alone and several 911 calls. Kirby told the court he intentionally turned the recording device on when he noticed things were going south, but he told officers a few days after the incident he hoped the device wasn’t on, contradicting what he said while under oath and on the stand. While talking to the 911 dispatch officers on the day of the alleged attack, Kirby asked for an ambulance to come out because the victim had an injury to her neck and was bleeding. Kirby disclosed to the dispatch responder on the phone that the neck injury wasn’t an accident. There was also no mention of the victim falling in the bush on any of the 911 calls. From the audio recording, Kirby can be heard telling the victim, “I have to go”, a number of times, but ultimately stayed until help arrived. A nurse testified that Kirby told her when the victim said she didn’t want to talk anymore, he lost it. The crown alleges that Kirby had a change of heart after trying to kill the victim because she said she still loved him. The victim told the court she said those words because she didn’t want to die. After police arrived and handcuffed him, Kirby told the victim, “see you later”. The crown alleged that Kirby slashed his wrists at the scene because he knew the stabbings weren’t an accident or out of self defense. Kirby had a common response telling the court, “good story, but definitely not”.
The defense will make written submissions to the judge before February 5th with the Crown to submit submissions the following week. A phone conference on the 28th of January will set the dates for the judges final decision, which will likely be virtually. If found guilty, sentencing would follow.
Kirby is a well-known Arnprior area resident as a hockey referee and softball umpire for over 20-years. Kirby is also one of the founding members of the Arnprior Civitan Club, was a member of the Lions Club and part of the Arnprior OPP community policing. On November 30th, 2020, Kirby was found guilty of rape and indecent assault in a historic sexual assault trial stemming from two separate victims dating back almost 50-years. Kirby told the court he is appealing that conviction and as of right now will be sentenced for those charges in March of 2021.
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Kirby takes the stand answering to attempted murder and kidnapping charges
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Kirby found guilty of sexual assault, indecent assault and pointing a firearm