Lisbon man charged in Lewiston stabbing

AUBURN — A Lisbon man has been charged in the September stabbing of a Lewiston man during an apparent fight over drugs.

An Androscoggin County grand jury handed up an indictment Tuesday against Raynold Labree, 34, for elevated aggravated assault, which is punishable by up to 30 years in prison.

Police said Labree admitted he stabbed Hassan Mohamed, 35, in the neck with a dagger-style knife Sept. 5 on Knox Street in Lewiston.

Labree told police he and a friend had driven to Maple Street to buy drugs that day. He said he and his friend had given someone money to have Mohamed buy drugs for them. Labree and his friend confronted Mohamed after he failed to buy the drugs for which he’d apparently been paid by a third party, according to a sworn affidavit by Detective Thomas Murphy.

Labree said Mohamed told him he had a gun and had reached behind his back when Labree stabbed him.

He later told police that he had lied about suspecting Mohamed had a gun “because he felt it may diminish the consequences for what he did,” Murphy wrote in his affidavit.

Mohamed, who gave police a description of his assailant, was taken by ambulance to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston where he underwent surgery for the wound.

Labree told police he had thrown the knife out the window of the car in which he and his friend had fled after the stabbing. A search warrant failed to turn up the weapon. Surveillance video showed their flight from that place at that time as well as the vehicle’s license plate number that led police to Labree’s home.

When police knocked on the door of his mobile home to question him, Labree said: “I know why you guys are here” and, “I stabbed the guy because I had to.”

A witness told police he saw two men running from the area of the stabbing and saw them get into a compact four-door sedan.

Two days before the stabbing, Labree was pulled over for a traffic stop. At that time, he had a 5-inch dagger-type knife, Murphy wrote.

Labree is being held at Androscoggin County Jail in lieu of $200,000 cash.

He is scheduled to be in Androscoggin County Superior Court on Friday to enter a plea to the charge in the indictment.

If freed on bail, he must not have alcohol, illegal drugs or dangerous weapons for which he can be searched at random. He’s also barred from having any contact with Mohamed.

cwilliams@sunjournal.com