Heavy tension at the Courtenay courthouse today as the BC Supreme Court trial for a 17 year-old charged with second degree murder entered its seventh day.

For the first and only time, the accused, who we can't name due to the Youth Justice Act, took the stand to be questioned by both the Crown Prosecutor and his Defence.

The youth told the court he had no intentions of killing 19 year-old James Denton.

" I had never heard of someone dying from a knife wound," the youth testified in a two hour cross examination from the Crown Prosecutor Gordon Baines."A lot happened so fast."

The teen described a scene to the court where his group of friends were confronted by a group of older boys, where he felt he had no choice but to defend himself.

There has been testimony from other witnesses saying the knife may have been a concealed weapon but the youth told the court that he showed it off and told James Denton to back off twice, before stabbing him as Denton stepped towards him.

The youth maintained that he had no idea he could kill another human being with a knife.

"He knows a lot, but he's not telling a lot," Dave Denton told HQ Comox Valley after the court adjourned for the day." He can remember a lot, but he can't remember the fine points of what he did wrong. It's really sad, pathetic liar, my son died for nothing."

The trial could boil down to whether it was murder or manslaughter.

"Today we heard from the accused, he talked about the incident like other witnesses did," said Defence Attorney Mike Mulligan.

"Just how quick this incident did, we are talking about a matter of seconds.  We are dealing with a young man in a situation that he described as a very stressful circumstance where he felt he was in jeopardy with a group of older boys approaching him. The 16 year old just didn't think carefully about all the things that he now knows could happen as a result of this."

The BC Supreme Court  trial that was expected to last until June 22, will wrap up early tomorrow with final evidence submissions. 

Most Viewed Stories

• Police catch excessive speeder
• Your horoscope: June 17-23, 2013
• Your horoscope: June 17-23, 2013
• Local business celebrates first clients
• Watch Miss Utah totally bungle Miss USA pageant question