SaskatoonTimothy Smith says his friend Landon Waddell drunkenly attacked him, and then collapsed to the floor. His story paints a very different picture than the court has heard so far of events in the early hours of Nov. 17, 2024, when Waddell died.Timothy Smith says Landon Waddell attacked him before collapsingHannah Spray · CBC News · Posted: Nov 20, 2025 2:03 PM EST | Last Updated: 2 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 5 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Landon Waddell died after an altercation in his home on 26th Street West on Nov. 17, 2024. Timothy Smith is on trial for manslaughter. (Dan Zakreski/CBC)Timothy Smith says his friend Landon Waddell drunkenly attacked him, then collapsed to the floor. His story paints a very different picture than the court has heard so far of events in the early hours of Nov. 17, 2024, when Waddell died. Smith is charged with manslaughter and is on trial this week in Saskatoon provincial court.After the Crown closed its case on Wednesday, defence lawyer Brady Knight called Smith as the only defence witness on Thursday morning.Smith, 46, said he was getting ready to go to bed on the evening of Nov. 16, 2024, when his friends Coady Boyer-Lafond, 44, and Waddell, 37, came by and invited him back to Waddell’s house to hang out and drink.Boyer-Lafond had been drinking since lunchtime and Waddell had been drinking since at least early evening, according to testimony earlier from Boyer-Lafond. Smith said he had had two beers before his friends came and picked him up, sometime after it was dark. They each drank three beer after they got to Waddell’s, Smith said.Smith said he had a pair of white, hard plastic knuckledusters in his pocket and took them out to show his friends. Waddell took the knuckledusters with him into his bedroom and returned without them, Smith said.Later, he noticed both Boyer-Lafond and Waddell were passing out, so decided to go home, he said. Smith said he passed by the TV, where Waddell kept a box of his watches, looked at the watches and said to Waddell, in reference to the knuckledusters, “If you want to steal from me, I’m going to steal from you. I’m going to grab your watch.”Landon Waddell was 37 years old when he died. (Dignitymemorial.com)Smith said he didn’t take a watch, but then he felt a punch to the back of his head. He turned around and saw Waddell, who threw more punches at Smith, then grabbed the collar of Smith’s sweater.Smith said he told Waddell to stop, but that Waddell was “just kind of blacking out … throwing punches wildly.” Smith said he punched Waddell a couple of times, but he didn’t want to hurt him.”I knew he wasn’t going to stop, when I looked at him and tried to talk to him. I just knew he wasn’t going to stop,” Smith said.Smith said he managed to get away from Waddell, who started to take off his sweater, and then started to “go down” toward the coffee table while he was taking his sweater off. Smith said he didn’t actually see Waddell fall on the coffee table, as Smith had gone into Waddell’s bedroom and retrieved his knuckledusters.Smith said that when he came back out, Waddell walked toward him with a bloody gash on his forehead. Smith said Waddell fell onto his knees, then faceplanted on the floor.Boyer-Lafond had been passed out on the couch during all of this, Smith said, but woke up at this point.Smith said he “nudged” Waddell with the bottom of his foot and told him to wake up.Smith said he started to do CPR on Waddell while Boyer-Lafond called 911. At one point, he looked up and saw a police officer in the doorway.”I just panicked and said there was a home invasion,” Smith said.Knight asked if Smith was afraid.”Yes,” Smith said. “It just looked bad.… I’m by myself and I’m with Landon and he’s hurt.”He said that after he got up, the officer took over CPR and Smith went into the kitchen and put the knuckledusters in a cupboard, because “I didn’t want to have them on me.”He was arrested at the scene, after Boyer-Lafond told police it was just the three of them in the house.Other testimonyWhen Boyer-Lafond testified on Monday, he said he had heard Smith and Waddell arguing about Smith’s knuckledusters earlier in the evening, and that Smith thought Waddell had hidden them.Boyer-Lafond said he was on the couch much later in the night, trying to figure out how to work the remote, when he noticed Waddell and Smith fighting. He said he heard Smith say, “Let go,” and then saw Smith punch Waddell.Boyer-Lafond said Waddell fell down backwards towards the coffee table, and that Smith made a stomping or kicking motion at Waddell.A corner of the coffee table had blood on it matching Waddell’s.Two shoe prints matching Smith’s shoe were visible on Waddell’s chest, court has heard.A black shirt was on the couch, and the knuckledusters were in a kitchen cupboard, police photos showed. Nine empty beer cans were in the living room.Waddell had multiple injuries to his face, including a wound on his forehead, but no injuries to the back of his head.He died from the combination of a concussion (caused by blunt force trauma to the head) and extreme alcohol intoxication, according to the forensic pathologist who conducted the autopsy.Crown prosecutor Leslie Dunning will be cross-examining Smith on Thursday afternoon. The trial is being heard by Judge Inez Cardinal.ABOUT THE AUTHORHannah Spray is a reporter and editor for CBC Saskatoon. She began her journalism career in newspapers, first in her hometown of Meadow Lake, Sask., moving on to Fort St. John, B.C., and then to the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
Accused testifies in own defence at Saskatoon manslaughter trial
