Defence lawyer says accused in hammer attack wrong guy

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This article was published 24/02/2021 (1692 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A judge will rule next week whether a Winnipeg man, who was identified on security video by his own family members, is the same man who attacked a 15-year-old boy with a hammer, embedding it in his skull.

Jerry Kipling, 30, stood trial this week accused of attacking the boy after striking up a conversation while in line at a Selkirk Avenue pizza restaurant on 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.

“The force of that blow must have been extremely powerful,” Crown attorney Ari Millo told provincial court Judge Murray Thompson in a closing argument Tuesday. “This was a completely unprovoked attack on an unarmed 15-year-old boy in broad daylight… that had disastrous consequences for the victim.”

While the court will never know why the boy was assaulted, there is no question Kipling was his attacker, Millo argued, pointing to the testimony of an aunt and cousin who both identified Kipling as the man caught on security video at the Pizzarama restaurant and other surveillance video in the area.

Marie Kipling, the accused’s aunt, contacted city police when she saw a security video picture investigators had distributed of the attacker, Millo said.

“Marie Kipling had no doubt whatsoever… that this was her nephew Jerry Kipling,” Millo said. “When she had an opportunity to observe the surveillance, that concrete ID did not change in the slightest.

Defence lawyer Mike Cook argued the evidence of the family members, while strong, was not evidence beyond a reasonable doubt. Cook said the case against his client was weakened by security video that showed a suspect with no tattoos on his arms. When arrested two weeks after the attack, Kipling had a cross tattoo on his forearm.

While he could not rule out Kipling getting the tattoo after the attack, “I suggest maybe we just have the wrong guy,” Cook said.

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, who has not yet returned to school, “maintained excellent brain function throughout his convalescence,” but has lost strength in his right arm and hand as a result of the attack, the report said.

Thompson will deliver his verdict March 5.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca