Penticton & South Okanagan News

Not guilty verdict in bar stabbing trial

Photo: Deborah Pfeiffer

A jury has found a Penticton man not guilty of two charges he faced related to a stabbing incident at a popular bar in the city.

Jury deliberations in the Joshua Pio stabbing trial started Monday morning.

 Pio, 24, was facing charges of aggravated assault and assault with a weapon, tied to an incident at The Barking Parrot on Jan. 1, 2012.

Several witnesses, including the victim, Dwayne Gabriel, testified during the trial, which began last Tuesday in a Penticton court room.

Gabriel claimed that Pio started the bar fight, while Pio, according to his lawyer Ian McAndrews, had the knife because he had been bullied and beaten up by Gabriel in the past.

McAndrews told the jury during closing arguments on Friday that they have to put themselves in Pio's shoes. He was beaten up before, so he protects himself.

But rather than using the knife in a flailing manner, he measures his response and is careful with the knife.

In her submissions, crown counsel Nashina Devji stated that Pio went to The Barking Parrot armed with a knife and with this knife he stabbed Gabriel repeatedly.

She concluded her submissions, stating Pio was not a man acting in self defence. Instead, he was a man who went to the bar, armed, looking for a fight and he found one.