Friend fled as near-fatal assault began

The friend of a man savagely pepper-sprayed and knifed in the Chinook Centre parking lot told court yesterday how he fled as the assault began. [the friend] said he was walking to his car with [the victim] on Dec. 29, 2005, when he heard his friend scream.

“I turned around and got a face full of mace,”said [the friend], adding he was carrying $1,650 to purchase an airline ticket.
“I realized someone was trying to harm either me or [my friend] at which point I ran as fast as possible...I could barely see, I could barely breathe.”

[the accused], 27, is charged with attempting to murder [the victim] while his brother and [the accused] are accused of aggravated assault and weapons charges. Earlier, the older [brother’s] lawyer, David Chow, cast doubt on [the victim’s] identification of the three defendants, noting his statements to police son after the crime contradict his testimony.

“You told the detective his baseball cap was pulled down and you couldn’t recognize his face and you’re sitting in court today and saying it’s [the accused] said Chow.
Chow argued one of the men fingered by [the victim] has been cleared by police. And he played a police audio tape of a photo lineup in which [the victim] lamented “I was blind” from pepper spray and “I wish I could have been better.”

The trial resumes today.  

2007
Calgary Sun
By: Bill Kaufmann