Man pleads guilty in Canada Day stabbing

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This article was published 23/11/2023 (654 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A 20-year-old Winnipeg man has admitted responsibility for his part in a shocking Canada Day attack at The Forks that sent a Ukrainian refugee to hospital with stab wounds to his neck.

Tyson Cole Bechard pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of aggravated assault for the July 1, 2022, stabbing, which court was told occurred after the victim’s friend and fellow refugee bumped into one of Bechard’s two co-accused as they passed each other outside the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

“I’m (pleading guilty) because I want to own up to what I did,” Bechard told provincial court Judge Sandy Chapman.

Bechard pleaded guilty on what was to be the first day of a three-day trial.

The victim and his friend had been in Winnipeg for just a few weeks at the time of the incident.

Court was told Bechard, co-accused Jayden Martin, 20, a male youth accused, and a male who wasn’t charged, were crossing the intersection at Israel Asper Way around 10:40 p.m. when the victim’s friend accidentally bumped into one of Bechard’s group, apologized and continued walking.

“Following this, individuals from Mr. Bechard’s group were yelling across the street at (the victim and his friend) and began running across the street,” Crown attorney Melissa Schrader told court.

The victim “asked what was going on, and apologized to the other group” before the accused youth discharged a can of bear spray, which caught the victim in the face, Schrader said.

The victim “went to the ground, while covering his face, asking, ‘What is wrong, I don’t understand. Stop,’” she said.

Martin, who prosecutors allege was armed with a knife, stabbed the man in the neck. The blade broke from its handle. Bechard punched the victim at least two times in the head as he pleaded: “Comrades, I’m from Ukraine, I’m from Ukraine.”

It was at this point, Schrader said, that one of the males in Bechard’s group shook the hands of the two Ukrainian men and apologized before fleeing with Bechard and his friends.

The victim’s friend flagged down a passerby, who called 911. The victim underwent surgery for two stab wounds to his neck and a collapsed lung. He spent five days in hospital.

Security video showed Bechard’s group boarding a city bus minutes after the attack. Security video on the bus recorded the group talking about the assault and “wondering if they will be on the news the following day,” Schrader said.

Bechard can be heard on the video complaining about his hand hurting from punching the victim.

“I literally decked that guy in the f—ing head like four times, boof, boof, boof,” Bechard said.

Bechard was arrested at his home three weeks later.

Bechard will be sentenced at a later date following the completion of a court-ordered pre-sentence report.

The charges against Martin have not been proven and he is presumed innocent. He is set to stand trial in January.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca