WESTLOCK – A 60-year-old man involved in a fist fight in June 2022 that left a 76-year-old man 100 per cent blind in one eye, has been found not guilty of aggravated assault.
In Westlock Court of Justice May 10, Justice Joanne Heudes delivered her verdict following an April 20, 2023, trial and said that the complainant and accused, who faced a single count of aggravated assault, had been willing combatants. The Westlock News had redacted the names of the complainant/victim, as per policy, and the accused as he was found not guilty and not previously named.
While Justice Heudes called the outcome “tragic” as the elderly man has lost “100 per cent” vision in his left eye, she said the accused only hit him after he came at him repeatedly with raised fists.
“While the accused intended to confront the man, it was the complainant who stepped forward and initiated the physical contact. He persisted and raised his fists. Looking at the actions of the complainant, I find that he consented to the risks of this fist fight, as unfortunate as those risks turned out to be,” said Justice Heudes. “The circumstances were tragic.”
Recalling the facts of the case, Justice Heudes said the complainant showed up at the Clyde Bar around 4 p.m., June 4, 2022, and “had likely been drinking prior.”
The man and the bartender had “briefly dated” 20 years previously before she met and married her husband, who was the accused. Justice Heudes said the complainant “was neither a friend nor an enemy” to the couple and vice versa and “nothing other than pleasantries was ever exchanged between them.”
Justice Heudes said that on the afternoon of the incident the complainant “was in foul mood” and alleged that some meat had been taken from his freezer 20 years ago and “that he should shoot someone.”
The comment shook the woman, and she phoned her husband, who then attended the bar and walked out on the patio where the man was sitting and said, “Do you have a problem?”
The complainant, who stands around 5’9” and weighs 170 pounds, stood up, pushed the man and threw a punch. The accused, who Justice Heudes said is about 5’7” and 170 pounds, then delivered a counterpunch to the left side of the complainant’s face which staggered him.
“But he chose to approach again with raised fists and was punched again in the left side of his face. He staggered back and then approached the man again with raised fists and for a third time he punched him in the left side of his face,” said Justice Heudes.
Finally, the complainant stopped, went to the table to steady himself, while the woman offered him a napkin to clear the blood from his eye and asked him to leave the establishment.
Following, Justice Heudes said the man received medical attention and was told he had lost 100 per cent of the vision in his left eye.
“The accused says he did not intend to get into a fist fight or hurt him. In his mind, it was the complainant who was the aggressor who elevated it from a verbal altercation to a fist fight and that he only struck him when he needed to from further attack,” said Justice Heudes.
