N.S. boyfriend backstabbed near Bayers Lake

The 911 call came in at 3:29 a.m.

The woman on the other end of the line on May 20 wouldn’t give the dispatcher her name. But she kept talking.

“The caller reported her boyfriend, Marteno Anderson, 29 years old, was possibly stabbed in the back,” Halifax Regional Police Det. Const. Aaron Head said in an application for a warrant in the case.

“The caller was completely uncooperative when questioned by the police call taker, but she did say that she brought Marteno Anderson upstairs to her apartment. The caller noticed his back to be bleeding and a hole in his shirt. She has no idea what happened or who did this.”

‘But he’s fine’

She told police Anderson was still breathing. “But he’s fine,” she said, before hanging up without giving her name.

The detective ran the number she called from through a police database. “It comes back to Tylene Smith,” he said.

On the recording, the woman who called 911 that night said she found Anderson injured in the lobby of her Washmill Lake Drive apartment building.

‘In an argument’

“When she got him upstairs to her apartment they were in an argument,” Head said in information to obtain a warrant filed at Dartmouth provincial court.

“When he turned around, she saw a hole in his shirt and blood.”

The dispatcher called her back after the woman hung up.

“When asked the female caller confirms that Marteno Anderson is laying on the floor and that there is blood on his upper back with a small hole, that he wasn’t shot, and that he told her some random guy stabbed him on his way to her apartment,” said the detective.

At that point, police can be heard on the 911 recording arriving on the scene.

Face-down and unconscious 

Anderson was lying on the floor face-down, unconscious, breathing and bleeding from his back, Head said.

“The female caller … can be heard telling the police officers that Marteno Anderson had been stumbling around, banging into everything and fell over into something,” he said.

Police officers in the background can be heard talking about searching Anderson for other injuries.

“The female caller can be heard telling police that she doesn’t know who stabbed him in the back.”

Police started giving Anderson first aid, locating two or three wounds in his upper right back.

Bite mark on hip

Police later noticed “an extremely visible bite mark” on Anderson’s left hip, Head said.

Investigators at the scene were able to confirm the woman who called 911 about the stabbing was Tylene Smith.

Paramedics arrived at 3:41 a.m. and took over Anderson’s care. They loaded him on a stretcher and took him to the QEII Hospital with a police officer accompanying them in the ambulance.

Other officers remained in the apartment where they’d found the injured man.

Glass shelves shattered 

“The apartment was in a state of disarray,” Head said.

“The living room, which is open concept with a kitchen had a glass shelving unit that was completely shattered; glass shards were all over the floor. It appears someone had either fallen on it or something was thrown at it.”

Cushions were pulled off the living room couch and placed in an upright position, said the detective. “A small coffee table was out of place and pushed up against a wall.”

Officers on the scene “felt the totality of the circumstances were indicative of some sort of disturbance within the apartment,” Head said.

Smith told them she’d been out drinking earlier in the night and that Anderson came home drunk. She said that just before she’d called for help, she’d noticed a small amount of blood on the back of his T-shirt, and that he fell over the shelving unit, shattering glass all over the floor.

Couldn’t find phone

Police asked Smith if she’d fielded any phone calls or texts from Anderson before he came home.

“Tylene Smith attempted to look for her cellular phone, but couldn’t find it,” said the detective.

Two constables followed her into her bedroom where they could hear it buzzing.

The bedroom was “quite messy,” and the mattress had been pushed slightly off the bed frame, Head said. “The bed wasn’t made, and the sheets were all over the place.”

Two knives spotted 

Officers spotted two knives in the bedroom; one was on the bed and the other on a nightstand near the foot of the bed.

The knives – each about 12 centimetres long — both had black handles with steel blades, Head said.

Smith found her phone, telling police Anderson had tried to call her that night from a private number.

Investigators met up with the building’s landlord, who quickly showed them surveillance video from the lobby.

‘Visibly upset and angry’

“Marteno Anderson appeared visibly upset and angry” in the video, said the detective.

“This led him to hitting a glass window with his fist.”

Anderson seemed to be frustrated that he couldn’t get in the building’s main entrance.

The surveillance video shows Anderson leaving the apartment building at 2:30 a.m., then returning a short time later.

“Marteno Anderson is not stabbed or injured. He is seen wearing a white T-shirt, white satin pants with a gold stripe down each leg, white sneakers, and a black fanny pouch across his chest,” Head said, noting Anderson also appeared to have a scratch on his forehead.

‘Door isn’t locked’

On the surveillance video, he’s seen trying the lobby doors again at 3:16 a.m. “The door isn’t locked, so he is able to enter the apartment building.”

He didn’t appear to come out again until he was on a stretcher.

After seeing the video, police concluded that Anderson had likely been stabbed in Smith’s apartment.

Two other investigators walked into her bedroom for a closer look at the two knives, Head said. “Both officers noticed blood on the knife that was laying on the bed.”

Girlfriend arrested

Police arrested Smith at 4:14 a.m. for aggravated assault and assault with a weapon. She was detained and police seized her clothing for forensic analysis before locking her in a cell.

Officers at the hospital with Anderson, who was undergoing surgery, also seized his clothing as evidence, Head said.

The detective convinced a justice of the peace to grant him a warrant to search Smith’s apartment for the two knives spotted in her bedroom, mobile phones, as well as bloody clothing and bed sheets.

Investigators seized three mobile phones, medical gauze, a pillowcase, sheets, and three black-handled knives during their May 25 search of Smith’s apartment. They also took swabs from red drops and red staining in the apartment’s living room, hallway and bathtub drain.

Alleged stabber arraigned 

Tylene Marie Smith was arraigned last month on charges of aggravated assault, assault with a weapon and committing an offence while carrying a weapon.

The 35-year-old is slated to return to court Sept. 1 for election and/or plea.

Smith has several convictions in this province for failing to comply with court orders, impaired driving, occupying a motor vehicle containing a firearm, resisting a peace officer and driving while disqualified.

Anderson has three convictions in Nova Scotia. Those include impaired driving in August of 2021, plus possession of a prohibited or restricted firearm with ammunition, and theft under $5,000 from August of 2016.