The Ottawa Valley’s first major trial of the year is currently underway. 74-year-old William or “Bill” Kirby is back on trial facing charges of attempted murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault and for death threats.
Kirby was arrested on September 13th of 2018 after a woman was found in critical condition in a wooded area off of Gunsmith Road in McNab/Braeside. Kirby is accused of kidnapping the victim, driving roughly 20-minutes, stabbing them once in the stomach, kicking them while they’re on the ground and stabbing them again in the neck. The weapon used is described as a brown handled throwing knife. Two other knives from the same set were found in Kirby’s car.
The victim took the stand at the Pembroke courthouse today (January 6th, 2021). She testified that her and the accused were in a romantic relationship for 18 to 19 years. The victim said near the end of their relationship, Kirby would follow her around and accuse her of sleeping around with her co-workers. The court heard that Kirby would wait outside her work for all of her breaks. Through their relationship the victim said she had no safety concerns and Kirby was never physical with her.
Just before noon on September 13th, the victim had left Sandvik in Arnprior where she was working at the time, to go meet Kirby who was waiting with some of her personal belongings. Kirby was waiting on Didek Drive across from the Arnprior Humane Society. Thinking she was only going to be a few minutes, she left her car running, unlocked with the driver side window down. The victim got in Kirby’s vehicle to grab her things and he drove off.
She told Kirby her vehicle was running and his response was “let the f*****g thing run out of gas”. She tried to jump out of the moving vehicle, but Kirby went on to say “go ahead, I’ll run you over”. After that she stopped trying to escape. “His eyes were scary, I’ve never seen him like that”, were the words used to describe Kirby. She tried to pick up a phone and call for help while they were driving, but Kirby had already removed the battery and proceeded to punch her in the side of the head.
From the Arnprior Human Society, past PJ’s restaurant, by the Ford Dealership and onto Highway 417 where they got off at the No Frills and Prior Sports Bar exit headed towards White Lake. Kirby turned onto 7th Concession (Robertson Line), made another turn onto Hidden River Road before turning onto Gunsmith Road and heading down to the end.
When they got out of the vehicle at the end of Gunsmith Road the victim testified that Kirby put his hand on her left shoulder and said to her “today’s your day to die you lying s**t” before stabbing her in the stomach. The victim says she pleaded with Kirby to go back to town saying they could forget the incident ever happened. As she was crying, the victim told the court she said those things because she didn’t want to die.
Kirby walked them both into the woods where she tripped, falling to the ground and was kicked to the point where she needed multiple stiches. After getting back and walking further into the woods the victim was stabbed in the neck. She described feeling a pain, taking a couple of steps before laying on the ground and curling up in the fetal position. The victim says at this point she begged Kirby not to leave her alone in the bushes and to call for help.
A 40-minute audio recording that included several 911 calls was entered in as evidence. The recording was captured from an Olympus recording device Kirby was carrying on him at the time of the attack. Kirby can be heard on the recording calling 911 and giving dispatch the directions to find them. Near the end of the recoding Kirby is heard telling police officers “we had a fight and I hit her with the knife”. The recording appears to have started shortly after the victim was stabbed the second time and lasts up until Kirby is arrested. It’s not clear if the recording was intentional or not.
The victim recovered after being treated overnight at an Ottawa hospital, but says her neck still bothers her on a regular basis and she still has scars. She says due to the bruising and the cuts she wasn’t able to look at herself in the mirror for a while.
Trial started on Monday (January 4th, 2021) and a number of witnesses who work with the victim took the stand including the one who found her car still running and first called the OPP. One of the responding officers, a forensic identification officer and the daughter of Kirby have also taken the stand already. The victim will be back on the stand tomorrow (January 7th, 2021) to finish testifying and be cross-examined by the defense.
Kirby is a former hockey referee and was part of the Arnprior Community Policing. Kirby has not yet been found guilty of the attempted murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault and death threats charges as they still have to been proven in court. The trial is booked until January 14th, 2021. Kirby was recently found guilty of a number of sexual assaults on two victims dating back roughly 50-years. Sentencing in that matter is set for March of 2021. Kirby remains out on bail.
There is no publication ban covering this matter, but to protect the identity of the victim, her name was not disclosed.
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