Man gets three years for ‘horrifying’ 30-minute assault

A 56-year-old man is in the care of the public trustee with a traumatic brain injury following repeated attacks by five teens at a Main Street pizza restaurant captured on video.

A now-20-year-old man pleaded guilty to attempted murder for the May 2023 incident and last week received a maximum youth sentence of three years custody and supervision.

Court heard the then-17-year-old offender and various co-accuseds attacked the defenceless victim six times over the course of nearly 30 minutes, stomping on his head approximately 100 times and punching him 35 times. Passersby witnessed the attacks but did not intervene.

“The number of people who do nothing is also extremely upsetting.”

The security video is “horrifying to watch… They all encourage each other to keep going and to inflict more damage to the victim’s head,” Crown attorney Kaley Tschetter told provincial court Judge Rob Finlayson, noting the sounds of sirens confirming the nearby presence of police did nothing to deter the teens from returning to attack the victim again and again.

“The number of people who do nothing is also extremely upsetting,” Tschetter said. “It frankly hurts the soul to watch. The lack of empathy shown by all of the people in the video is depressing, as is the lack of humanity.

“The fact these accused continued to come back time and time again when it was clear that the victim had just been laying there unconscious speaks volumes,” she said.

Security video provided to court showed the accused, a 16-year-old female co-accused and two other teens entering the restaurant at 4:15 a.m. when the girl started talking to the intoxicated victim, a stranger to the group. Court heard the girl later accused the man of touching her.

A review of the video shows “at no point does he touch her in any way,” Tschetter said.

A couple of minutes later, the girl and a then-14-year-old male co-accused pushed and shoved the victim before taking him to the floor, at which point the male accused and an 18-year-old female co-acused joined the attack and surrounded the victim, stomping on his face and body approximately 40 times.

The teens exited the restaurant, leaving the man unconscious on the floor, his pants around his ankles.

The teens returned minutes later and looked through the door to see the victim still on the floor.

“We should leave him alone, he is f—-ed up,” the 14-year-old male co-accused can be heard saying on the security video.

“However, they enter and continue stomping on the victim,” Tschetter said.

“They enter and continue stomping on the victim.”

The victim regained his feet briefly but was taken to the floor again and stomped approximately 35 more times before the teens dragged him outside by the hair and continued to assault him, Tschetter said.

“This is why you don’t touch girls, bitch,” the 16-year-old female co-accused said before the group left yet again. The accused and the girl returned minutes later and kicked the victim in the head another seven times and then left, only to return minutes later with a 13-year-old male co-accused, with all three taking turns stomping on the victim’s head, Tschetter said.

All five teens renewed the attack a minute later, with one urging the group to leave “before we kill him.”

The 16-year-old girl is heard saying: “Let’s kill him.”

At that point, the accused and the girl are the only ones to continue the attack, Tschetter said.

The teens only left the area after hearing an ambulance siren, she said.

The victim, already vulnerable and missing fingers on both hands, suffered a traumatic brain injury, multiple facial fractures, and collapsed lungs, and can no longer walk without assistance, Tschetter said. A psychiatrist later deemed him mentally incompetent, and he was made a ward of the public trustee.

“He will require 24-hour care for the rest of his life,” she said.

Finlayson agreed to a joint Crown and defence recommendation that the offender serve his sentence under an Intensive Rehabilitative Custody and Supervision order.

That program allows youth participants access to one-on-one counselling, occupational therapy, tutoring and other specialized services at a cost of $100,000 a year.

“He will require 24-hour care for the rest of his life.”

Court heard the offender has a family history of residential school involvement and substance abuse, spent long periods in foster care and has struggled with drugs and alcohol and anger issues. He has an IQ of 59 and poor verbal comprehension and perceptual reasoning skills.

“The sentence we are recommending keeps the principle of rehabilitation at the forefront” said defence lawyer Brittney Macht.

The offender will be allowed to serve his sentence at the Manitoba Youth Centre, not an adult prison, “subject to his good behaviour, which he understands,” Macht said.

“You are truly fortunate that you are staying in the youth system,” Finlayson told the offender. “Don’t abuse that privilege, don’t mess it up.”

The teen girl whose false allegation prompted the life-altering attacks on the victim, received the same sentence last June.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca