Stabbing victim brought to tears

Lawyer challenges attacker’s identity

An emotionally drained stabbing victim left court in tears after defence lawyer David Chow drilled holes in his testimony regarding the identity of three men who viciously attacked him outside Chinook Centre 18 months ago. Chow, who represents [the accused] repeatedly referred on Wednesday to [the victim’s] statements to police detectives days after he was stabbed in the chest and sprayed in the face with pepper spray on Dec. 29, 2005, outside the mall.

[the victim] was confident as to who were his attackers when he was questioned by Crown prosecutor Roy Smith on Tuesday, but in his first statement made the day after the attack, he was far less clear.  

“You wouldn’t want to see individuals get wrongfully convicted because of wrong identification?” Chow asked the victim.
“Yes,” [the victim], 25, agreed.

[the accused], 27, is on trial on charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault, two counts of assault with a weapon for allegedly pepper-spraying [the victims], and possession of a weapon - pepper spray - dangerous to the public.

His brother, 23, and [the other accused], represented by lawyers Joe Nahman and Brad Popovic, respectively, each face the latter four charges.  [the victim] said he was able to recognize [the accused] that night from his voice, because his eyes were burning from the spray, but later said he had only met the man a couple of times. He also gave conflicting descriptions of the man’s clothing.

Chow noted [the victim] had initially told police a man named Jimmy had attacked him with the spray, but agreed the man was never charged and was now sitting in the gallery of the courtroom. He had told Smith that [the accused] was one of his three assailants, but when referred to his police statement, he agreed he had said [the accused] was a fourth person who stood back as the other three men stabbed and sprayed him.

[the victim] also said he was able to recognize one of his attackers, even though he had never seen him before that night and could barely open his eyes from the pepper spray. Although he was able to easily pick out his alleged attackers in the mall surveillance video, he acknowledged he only had a fleeting glance of them as he was riding down an escalator at the mall minutes earlier. [This friend] later testified he was walking out to his car with [the victim] for a smoke when he suddenly heard a yelp and was sprayed in the left side of the face, so he fled toward Glenmore Trail. Once men stopped following him, he said, he turned around and came back to the mall for help.

The trial before Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Rosemary Nation continues today.  

2007-06-14
Calgary Herald
By: Daryl Slade