Leduc teacher, former students recount fatal classroom stabbing of teen girl at murder trial

WARNING: This story contains graphic details of violence.

A teacher and three of her former high school students say there were no warning signs before a fatal stabbing unfolded in their Edmonton-area classroom on the morning of March 15, 2021.

Witnesses began testifying this week at the first-degree murder trial of Dylan Pountney, charged in the killing of his 17-year-old classmate, Jennifer Winkler. Pountney, now 22, was 19 at the time.

The two were students at Christ the King School, a Catholic Grade 9 to 12 school in Leduc, just south of Edmonton.

The gallery in Wetaskiwin's Court of King's Bench was packed with many of Winkler's friends and family members as witnesses gave evidence.

The teacher and students, who can't be named due to a publication ban, all identified Pountney as the attacker. They testified that he rushed at Winkler while she sat at her desk during a mid-morning break in their social studies lesson.

At the time, COVID-19 precautions to limit students' exposure to each other meant the teens were spending the entire morning in one classroom for a three-hour block. The teacher told the court on Tuesday that Winkler sat in front of Pountney in class, but she didn't see them speak the previous week, nor did she remember them interacting on the day in question.

That Monday morning, the class was discussing the issue of genocide. The teacher said it seemed like a normal day.

WATCH | Leduc students, residents react to fatal stabbing of teen girl at school:

"We did have discussion with everybody and Dylan put up his hand, which was out of the ordinary," she said.

"He asked why Hitler was viewed as the worst person or that the Holocaust was the worst genocide ... versus Stalin, who had done something very similar."

The teacher told the court that she called a break shortly before 10 a.m., and Pountney made some comments to her about the weather before leaving the room.

Just minutes later, the teacher said a sudden movement in the doorway caught her eye, and she looked up to see the accused stabbing Winkler.

People in the courtroom wiped tears from their eyes as the teacher described the sudden chaos.