Guilty pleas in Ben Lee Park machete attack and Rutland stabbing

"HE'S ADMITTING TO EACH AND EVERY ESSENTIAL ELEMENT."

KELOWNA – A Kelowna man accused of stabbing his ex-girlfriend and attacking her friend with a machete has pleaded guilty to the majority of the charges he faces.

Officers were called to Ben Lee Park in Rutland shortly after midnight on Aug. 8 with to a report that two men armed with machetes had attacked and seriously injured a 22-year-old Kelowna man. One week later a woman was stabbed in the back at a home on Franklyn Road.

The identity of the Ben Lee Park victim was not disclosed but Matt LeBlanc came forward to iNFOnews.ca and identified himself as the victim of the machete attack and said Derrick Antoine, 29, was his attacker. He said Antoine was also responsible for the Franklyn Road stabbing.

LeBlanc said Antoine was upset that the victim of the stabbing ended their six-year relationship and was meeting new friends.

Antoine pleaded guilty via video in Kelowna court today, Dec. 8, to assault with a weapon for stabbing his ex-girlfriend in the back Aug. 16 and to resisting arrest, as well as a second charge of domestic assault Crown says took place a month and a half prior.

He also pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily harm in the Ben Lee Park machete attack on LeBlanc.

“He’s admitting to each and every essential element,” his lawyer Grant Gray said.

Antoine is being held in custody until his next court date in January 2017.

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