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Man guilty of 2nddegree murder in girlfriend’s stabbing death
nsnews.com/newsletter
SUMMER SURFER
BRENT RICHTER
brichter@nsnews.com
A North Vancouver man has been found guilty of second-degree murder in the stabbing death of his partner.
On Dec. 19, 2021, Everton Javaun Downey and Melissa Blimkie drove from their North Vancouver apartment to Metrotown in Burnaby. While walking through the mall’s stairwell, Downey stabbed the 25-year-old 15 times with a folding knife, hitting her left lung, heart, liver, left kidney as well as her arms, hands and thighs. He was later charged with second-degree murder and faced trial in Vancouver in B.C. Supreme Court between January 2024 and June 2025. Downey never denied that he stabbed his girlfriend to death, but his defence counsel argued he should be found not criminally responsible by reason of mental disorder, or that he lacked the specific intent required under the law for a conviction for second-degree murder. At trial, Downey testified about a series of “strange” incidents causing him paranoia – people following him or monitoring him through holes in the ceiling, someone talking to Blimkie through her ear, and strangers throwing Continued on A19
FOILED AGAIN Vancouver resident Doug Pinton rides his e-foil board near Ambleside Beach in West Vancouver on Tuesday as a late-August heatwave hits the region. Check out Page 6 for a story on a record-setting weather day in West Vancouver and a look at the days ahead. NICK LABA / NSN
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