St. B apartment resident’s year ends with bloody, rude awakening Sleepy, half-naked man assaulted, stabbed in chest after answering early New Year’s Eve-morning banging on suite door By: Kevin Rollason Posted: 7:00 PM CST Friday, Jan. 6, 2023

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This article was published 05/01/2023 (622 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

With blood running down his chest onto the floor from a stab wound and dressed only in socks and underwear, Al Rowan didn’t know whether he would live or die after being attacked by a woman he believes was high on drugs.

But now the 58-year-old St. Boniface resident is being called a hero for keeping his attacker from stabbing several other residents in the apartment building he lives in.

“Some people are hailing me as a hero, but I don’t think I’m a hero,” Rowan said Friday, six days after a woman banging on doors stabbed him in the chest with what looked like a steak knife.

“But they say I was lucky. She tried to plunge the knife in my chest, but it hit my sternum bone — that’s what saved me. One inch to the left and she would have impaled my heart.”

Winnipeg police said earlier this week a 58-year-old man was rushed to hospital in unstable condition and a 67-year-old in stable condition after both were stabbed in the upper body.

Police said when officers went to the apartment complex in the 300 block of Goulet Street after being called about a woman causing a disturbance there on Dec. 31 at about 5:15 a.m.

The officers arrested the woman and seized two weapons as evidence.

Police later found out a woman had been banging on residents’ doors before Rowan and another man who went to help him were stabbed.

Neither victim knew the woman.

Michelle Renee Berthellette, 48, of Winnipeg, has been charged with two counts of assault with a weapon, two of possession of a weapon, carrying a concealed weapon, and mischief under $5,000. She was detained in custody.

It’s not the first time Berthellette has been before the courts.

She has a criminal record that since 2015 has resulted in a conviction for assault, possession of a dangerous weapon and breaches of court orders.

“She tried to plunge the knife in my chest, but it hit my sternum bone — that’s what saved me. One inch to the left and she would have impaled my heart.”–Al Rowan

Rowan said he was fast asleep on Dec. 31, at about 5 a.m., when he was awakened by the sound of what he thought were keys hitting his door and a loud banging.

He said he tried to ignore it when he heard the banging on other doors further and further down the hall.

“Then, what the hell, the bang on my door was louder — it sounded like a hockey stick hitting the door. I thought, ‘What the f—k is going on?’

“I went out in just my socks and gitch — that was all I had on — she was already at the end of the hall and another guy was yelling at her. I walked straight up to her, we were face to face, and before I could block her she assaulted me with an ax handle on the bridge of my nose and forehead. It split me wide open.”

Rowan said he was able to grab the ax handle, and wrestle it away from the woman before she could strike him again. He said she bent down, to pick up some keys she dropped, and that’s when she stabbed him.

He said because he was “cut open” and, still on blood thinners from a stroke he suffered last year, he was bleeding profusely while the woman kept walking up and down the hallway.

“I didn’t know what was going to happen,” he said. “She just was looking at me like I was the devil. I didn’t even know her.”

“I didn’t know what was going to happen… She just was looking at me like I was the devil. I didn’t even know her.”–Al Rowen

Rowan said he managed to get back to his suite and call 911.

“They told me to stay on the phone, help was on the way,” he said. “I could hear the sirens coming. I looked out and the woman was by the elevator when the doors opened and two cops were there and tackled her.

“My guess is she was coming off some hard drugs.”

Rowan was released from hospital the following day with a cab slip, a couple of prescriptions and more clothes than he had when he got there.

“The nurse came back with a gitch, a shirt and some jeans,” he said.

Had he know what was about to happen, Rowan said he would have taken a kitchen chair or belt into the hallway to protect himself.

“It would have helped me stay away from the psycho — like a lion trainer,” he said.

To help Rowan, his brother, Gilbert, has set up a GoFundMe fundraiser which in only two days has doubled its goal of $2,500 to help him pay for an eye exam, new glasses, transportation to future medical appointments, medication and food.

“It is truly a miracle that he survived such a brutal attack,” his brother said. “It is clear to all of us that his quick thinking more than likely resulted in saving the lives of many other residents.”

“It is clear to all of us that his quick thinking more than likely resulted in saving the lives of many other residents.”–Gilbert, Al Rowan’s brother

As for Rowan, he said he’s “really touched” by the donations.

“My brother donated money, but there are also people I went to school with and there are names I don’t even know,” he said.

“It’s good to know there’s good people out there.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

Kevin Rollason
Reporter

Kevin Rollason is one of the more versatile reporters at the Winnipeg Free Press. Whether it is covering city hall, the law courts, or general reporting, Rollason can be counted on to not only answer the 5 Ws — Who, What, When, Where and Why — but to do it in an interesting and accessible way for readers.

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