Toronto woman’s murder charge withdrawn in ‘strongest case of self-defence I have ever seen in 30 years’

Chelsey Arkarakas was covered in blood, barefoot and banging on the door of a neighbour's home so they could call 911 for an ambulance.

He was trying to kill me," she told the couple who answered.

When the paramedics and police arrived she was lying on the floor, a pink towel tucked under her head, barely able to breathe from the injuries to her ribs, nose and neck.

She told the police her ex-boyfriend Brent Mancheese, 32, was in a nearby basement apartment. She soon learned, from hearing it over the police radio, that he was dead.

Toronto police charged Arkarakas, 25, with second-degree murder that night, Nov. 16, 2020. The next day she was taken from Sunnybrook Hospital to jail - her wounds freshly stitched and her neck in a brace, wearing children's clothes scrounged up by the hospital nurses because her own were now evidence.

Four months later, after a further police investigation, the Crown has withdrawn Arkarakas's murder charge, telling court it was an insurmountable" case of self-defence based on the forensic evidence, her significant injuries, her lengthy statement to the police and the history of violence perpetrated by Mr. Mancheese on Ms. Arkarakas."

This is a very clear case of self-defence in a homicide in as much as anyone might see in any homicide prosecution," Crown prosecutor Andrew Pilla told court in March. I would ask that the charges against Ms. Arkarakas be marked withdrawn."

A wave of relief washed over Arkarakas at those words, she told the Star in a recent interview.

Knowing how you fought so hard for your life for it still to be potentially over with a life sentence ... that was something that was very heavy on my conscience for the entire time until the charges got dropped," she said. I felt like the system failed me ... I thought that this entire thing was wrong for me to have to go through this experience."

Unusually, Pilla gave a detailed summary in court of why the Crown withdrew the charge.

The public deserves one especially in these rarest of occasions where the justification for an insufficient reasonable prospect of conviction flows from self-defence," he said.

Pilla said the police were justified in arresting and charging Arkarakas that night, but then the investigation continued. Police should be congratulated for demonstrating precisely how our system ought to work, to secure the truth and not a conviction," he said.

Arkarakas was released on bail about a month after her arrest with the consent of the Crown, another highly unusual step.

It became clear that Mr. Mancheese had invited Ms. Arkarakas to the ultimate scene after a three-hour text and phone conversation," Pilla said, describing what happened that night.

Soon after Ms. Arkarakas's arrival, he violently attacked her, beating her with his fist, dragging her by her hair, biting her and banging her face on the basement floor. During the assault which lasted some duration, Ms. Arkarakas used a folding pocket knife to reach back and strike Mr. Mancheese while he was restraining her by laying on top of her and choking her with a scarf," Pilla said.

Mr. Mancheese attempted to get the knife away from Ms. Arkarakas and they fought over the knife. The single stab wound to the thigh of Mr. Mancheese caused by Ms. Arkarakas penetrated his thigh and his artery. The coroner who later came to the scene indicated that even had a vascular surgeon been at the site of the incident, it was unlikely that Mr. Mancheese could have been saved, despite it being a relatively shallow and single stab wound."

Arkarakas said she decided not to speak to police once she realized Mancheese was dead.

I knew from the get-go that this wasn't something I should be talking about without a lawyer," she said, noting that she has taken law and criminology classes. I know how words can be manipulated."

Once she was released on bail and could speak to her lawyer Nadir Sachak - something that COVID-19 restrictions had made hard to do while in custody - she gave police a full statement.

Everything she said checked out, Sachak said, adding: It is probably the strongest case of self-defence I have ever seen in 30 years."

Arkarakas said she broke up with Mancheese, who she had dated for a year, when he became abusive and relapsed into drug use. A month and a half later, he contacted her and sounded remorseful and emotional. She said she agreed to drive out to a Scarborough apartment where he was staying to meet him in person for closure and a full apology but, she said, it was a trap."

She said the attack started almost as soon as she entered the apartment and lasted close to half an hour. At the time, her hand was still in a brace from when he broke two of her fingers on her right hand, which she said had prevented her from working as a visual and tattoo artist.

There was a warrant out for Mancheese's arrest for that assault, Sachak told the court. He also had a documented history of domestic violence against women and a criminal record including 18 convictions related to weapons and violence, Sachak said.

There was no doubt in my mind that I was going to die that night. He was in the middle of murdering me," Arkarakas said.

When she saw the knife on the couch, near the end of the fight, she grabbed it. She said Mancheese, who was about double her weight, pinned her down onto the couch and put a scarf over her face.

He was choking me to death," she said. In that moment, is when I made the decision to stab him to get away."

After she stabbed him in the leg they struggled with the knife, she said. I knew if he got that knife I was gonna be dead in that second," she said. At one point I made a conscious decision ... OK you need to grip the blade because he's getting the knife out of your hand."

As soon as she could, she pushed him off her and ran out of the basement apartment.

I did my best, I was stumbling at that point. I just wanted to get into the car and go to the hospital," she said. But she realized she didn't have her keys or her phone, and she didn't have her shoes on.

The neighbours who helped her thought she was wearing a Halloween costume because there was so much blood on her, she said.

Sachak told the court Arkarakas had two black eyes, a broken nose, and bite marks on her head, ears and hands. Mancheese had also ripped out her piercings and chunks of her hair.

Arkarakas said she needs surgery to repair her nose to allow her to breathe properly again but, due to COVID-19 delays, the wait is estimated at a year-and-a-half.

More than anything she is grateful that there seems to be no permanent damage to her hands from the knife wounds and fractures.

I am able to move all of my fingers. I am able to draw, I'm able to paint, I'm able to tattoo. I'm able to do all the things that I love. I'm still able to play the guitar ... Art has always been my form of therapy, my form of expression," she said. Sometimes I still can't believe that I'm here. Sometimes I think this is all a dream and I died that night."

Alyshah Hasham is a Toronto-based reporter covering crime and court for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @alysanmati