Judge convicts attacker who embedded hammer in teen’s skull

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This article was published 05/03/2021 (2033 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A judge has found a Winnipeg man guilty of aggravated assault in an unprovoked attack with a hammer on a 15-year-old boy last spring.

Provincial court Judge Murray Thompson said the evidence of Jerry Kipling’s own family members and other corroborating evidence left him with no doubt Kipling was the man captured on restaurant security video striking the boy with a hammer, embedding it in his skull.

Kipling, 30, was charged with aggravated assault and a lengthy list of weapons offences. He remains in custody and will be sentenced at a later date, following the completion of a court-ordered pre-sentence report.

“The pre-sentence report will illuminate his personal struggles, with an emphasis on the great difficulties facing Indigenous offenders,” Kipling’s lawyer Mike Cook said outside court.

Court heard evidence at trial last month the boy was attacked after striking up a conversation with a man at a Selkirk Avenue pizza restaurant, May 30, 2020.

According to an agreed statement of facts provided to the court, the boy and his attacker had struck up a conversation when the attacker showed the boy the contents of his backpack, including a hammer and what appeared to be a knife.

The two “appeared to be getting along and were laughing,” before the boy collected his order and made his way towards the exit. That’s when the attacker followed him and hit him in the head with the claw end of the hammer.

The handle of the hammer broke off, leaving the claw end embedded in the boy’s skull. The attacker picked up the hammer handle and ran from the store.

Kipling’s aunt, Mary Kipling, and a cousin, Darrel Kelly, both identified Jerry Kipling at trial as the man depicted in security video images released by police following the attack.

“The law recognizes that people more familiar with the accused can be in a better position than the trial judge to identify them,” Thompson said, going on to note the identification evidence of Mary Kipling was particularly strong.

“Mary Kipling… contacted police, not the other way around,” Thompson said. “Her emotions in testifying against her nephew were palpable, at one point she was moved to tears. It was clear she did not at all enjoy the prospect of testifying against her nephew and that she had no ill will towards him whatsoever.”

Thompson said the identification evidence was bolstered by evidence matching the suspect’s backpack and shoes with identical items seized from Kipling upon his arrest two weeks after the attack.

The boy spent three weeks in hospital and underwent two surgeries, with at least one more still to come, medical records provided to the court show.

The boy “maintained excellent brain function throughout his convalescence,” but has lost strength in his right arm and hand as a result of the attack, a medical report said.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca