By: 
KRISTOPHER Watt had already stabbed one man three times and fled from a downtown Winnipeg hotel, when he returned minutes later and stabbed a second man to death.
Exactly why Watt chose to return to the hotel was the central focus of a judge’s decision Tuesday to sentence him to life in prison with no chance of parole for 12 years.
Watt, 42, was set to stand trial in October for first-degree murder in the November 2018 killing of Maurice Cameron, but agreed to plead guilty to the lesser offence of second-degree murder.
Court heard Watt visited Cameron, 54, at his room at the Windsor Hotel trying to retrieve a necklace he had left with a woman the night before. Cameron refused to return it, demanding "compensation."
Watt left the hotel to get some money, and when he returned got into a fight with a friend of Cameron’s in the hallway.
Cameron joined the fight, which ended with Watt stabbing the first man in the torso and running away.
Security video showed Watt returning within minutes, entering Cameron’s room, and rushing out just four seconds later. In those seconds, Watt stabbed Cameron three times in the chest and abdomen. He died in hospital a short time later.
The Crown had recommended Justice Shawn Greenberg order Watt to serve 17 years in custody before he could apply for parole; the defence recommended 10 years, the minimum period allowed by law.
Crown attorney Mark Kantor argued Watt’s decision to return to the hotel was an aggravating factor that supported a longer period of parole ineligibility.
Watt was originally charged with first-degree murder "presumably on the basis he returned to the hotel with a plan to kill Mr. Cameron or to cause him bodily harm that was likely to be fatal," Greenberg said.
Kantor agreed to accept the plea to the lesser charge while disputing Watt’s claim he returned to Cameron’s room to retrieve his cellphone and wallet, lost during the earlier fight.
An agreement by the Crown and defence to provide the court no reason for Watt’s return to the hotel room didn’t preclude Watt from providing his own explanation at an earlier sentencing hearing, Greenberg said.
Watt told court Cameron had his back to him when he entered his room and grabbed his cellphone and wallet. When Cameron turned around, Watt reflexively stabbed him.
"I don’t think the Crown and defence agreement means I have to ignore his explanation," Greenberg said. "In view of Mr. Watt’s explanation, the absence of evidence to refute it, I cannot find or infer he had a nefarious purpose to returning."
Watt was on parole at the time of the killing, having completed the custodial portion of a six-year prison sentence for bank robbery.
Watt was caught literally red-handed after he robbed a Scotiabank on Roblin Boulevard of $5,500: a dye pack had exploded in his hands. Watt was arrested after a high-speed police chase.
Watt claimed he found the money in a church parking lot when police tried to stop him and he feared he would be shot.
dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca
Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter
Someone once said a journalist is just a reporter in a good suit. Dean Pritchard doesn’t own a good suit. But he knows a good lawsuit.
