Tenant who called 9-1-1 describes traumatic moments before bloodied man died

A tenant of the Wharncliffe Road rooming house where a man died Wednesday describes in detail how the victim and the accused knew each other.

“I’d like to get out of here as soon as I can, I don’t feel safe here,” says Ken, who asked that CTV News London not use his last name.

He says tenants of the Warncliffe Lodging boarding house are still shaken by the traumatic night of Dec. 8, when 56-year-old Kenneth Wayne Wallis of London was killed.

Ken describes calling 911.

“Kenny (Wallis) came to my door screaming and yelling for help,” he recalls. “But when I saw the wound, there was nothing you could have done.”

Paramedics managed to get a pulse, but Wallis would later die from deep lacerations in hospital.

According to neighbours who asked to remain anonymous, Wallis was a widower had moved into a room on the second floor several months ago.

He struggled with addiction.

“He had lost his wife, and I didn’t know he had a daughter until he brought her over and introduced her,” says Ken. “She called me the night after it happened. Kenny was a pretty good guy.”

London police have charged 40-year-old Robert Charnock of London with second-degree murder.

He appeared in court on Dec. 9 and was remanded in custody.

Both the victim and the accused lived inside the boarding house -- their units were side-by-side.

Ken describes the relationship as sometimes good but sometimes not good.

“They got to being friends, but then the last couple of days before this happened, Rob (Charnock) got quiet all of a sudden and acting really strange.”

Anyone with further information is asked to contact London police or Crime Stoppers.