Accused killer says he was trying to protect children from viper-like 'shadow creature'

The Fort Saskatchewan father who admits to killing his infant son now says he thought he was being attacked by a "shadow creature" while he was in a dream-like state. 

Damien Starrett, 33, is charged with second-degree murder in the death his one-year-old son Ares. Starrett's lawyer wants Court of Queen's Bench Justice John Henderson to find Starrett not criminally responsible. 

Starrett testified in his own defence for two and a half days this week. 

On Thursday morning, he told Crown prosecutor Sandra Christensen-Moore that one week before Ares died, he had a bizarre experience. 

Starrett went upstairs to his bedroom to retrieve a laptop and fell asleep on the bed, he testified. He dreamed he was smoking a cigarette while he was walking through a city he'd never seen before, he said. 

Starrett said when he woke up, he was lying down on the bed with a lit cigarette in his hand. He quickly put the cigarette out and tried to get rid of the smell because he was adamantly against smoking inside the house, he said. 

"I didn't tell anybody because I was so confused," Starrett said. 

Starrett said the night before he killed his son, he bought 12 Percocet tablets from a friend. He took four right away, then another two before his wife returned home from work around 9 p.m., he said.  

He had problems falling asleep that night and remembered last checking the time on his phone at 3:30 a.m., he testified.

The next morning was Saturday and Starrett was the last one to get up. He told the court his back pain was excruciating, so he took two more Percocets.

He testified that it gave him some relief, but he popped another two tablets around noon, then another two at 2 p.m. 

The Crown noted Starrett had taken a dozen Percocets in less than 24 hours. He testified he did not have breakfast or lunch the day his son died. 

Starrett previously told the court that he was in the living room with his five-year-old daughter and Ares for most of the day while his wife worked a split shift at a Fort Saskatchewan restaurant.

He said he remembered lying on the couch, that it went from light to dark and the next thing he knew he was sitting up staring at a stairwell.