A Watson Lake woman testified Tuesday afternoon that Michael Nehass punched her in the head, held a knife to her throat and threatened to kill her and her family.

Agnes Reid took the stand in Nehass’ trial.

“I asked him what the problem was, and he said, ‘I heard you’re not afraid of me. Well, by the time I’m finished with you, you’re gonna be afraid of me,’” Reid said of the alleged incident on Dec. 21, 2011, in Watson Lake.

Nehass, 31, is charged with uttering threats, assault with a weapon, forcible confinement, intimidation and a breach of his probation. He is self-represented.

(Though he initially faced eight charges, Crown prosecutor Terri Kaur amended the indictment because there was some overlap between them.)

On that day, Reid said she drove over to Lakeview Apartments in Watson Lake to pick up some money from a friend. Her friend’s spouse told her she wasn’t home, so Reid headed out to her car. That’s when Nehass appeared, she said.

Reid, 50, said she’s known Nehass since he was a child, and when he told her he needed to talk to her, she went over to him.

Then he punched her in the side of head, causing her glasses to fly off, the woman said.

Reid testified Nehass dragged her by her hair up a couple of stairs inside the building, yelling at her. He later started shoving and pushing her from behind, she said.

Her friend’s spouse appeared at the top of the stairwell, and she told him to call the RCMP.

They ended up in her friend’s apartment, where Nehass demanded that the friend’s children leave. He locked the door behind them, Reid said.

She said Nehass proceeded to choke, hit and slap her, while her friend and her friend’s partner watched. Though she told them to call the RCMP, they didn’t.

Nehass then pulled a pocketknife – about five inches when closed – from his jeans pocket, she said.

“He opened it up and held it to my throat, saying he was going to slit my throat,” Reid said.

When Kaur asked how long he held it there for, Reid said, “It felt like forever.”

He told her if she called police, he would kill her children and grandchildren, she testified.

Finally, after 30 to 45 minutes, he let her go, she said. Reid was in tears and drove home.

She didn’t call police until her son-in-law arrived home from Fort Nelson, B.C., to pick up her granddaughter, she said. She didn’t want to call with the girl in the house, given the nature of Nehass’ threat, she said.

This was about four or five hours after the alleged assault, she said.

A male RCMP officer came by her Nisutlin Way home and took photos of her, she said.

Looking at six photos of her face and neck in court Tuesday, Reid said she saw redness – “probably choke marks or it could be from the knife. I don’t know.”

The Crown’s first witness took these photos.

Const. Colin Kemp testified earlier in the day that he and another officer went to Lakeview Apartments to try to find Nehass, but they were unsuccessful.

Kemp said he then went to Reid’s home, where she gave a statement and he took photos. He said this was about an hour after the alleged offence occurred.

The woman was agitated and fearful, Kemp testified.

“She was very concerned for her life,” he said. “She said she was scared Mr. Nehass was going to come to her house and that he threatened to kill her and her family if she called the police.”

Bibhas Vaze, a lawyer appointed to assist in the proceedings, asked whether police did any testing to see if Reid was intoxicated.

Kemp said they did not, though if she was highly intoxicated, he would have noticed. Upon questioning from Vaze, he said it was possible her agitation and paranoia could have been a result of intoxication.

Reid testified she was sober at the time.

When cross-examining Kemp, Nehass referred to the statement Reid gave to police. In it, she’s asked whether a knife ever came into contact with her. She said no.

Nehass questioned the officer about this.

“The original information I received was that the knife touched her throat,” Kemp replied. He said the RCMP officer he was with told him this.

Kemp said Nehass turned himself in at the Watson Lake RCMP detachment on Dec. 29, 2011. He said Nehass was compliant and non-combative that day.

To his knowledge, a knife was never located, Kemp said.

The trial continued this morning, with Vaze cross-examining Reid. The proceedings are expected to last through this week.