Charges laid after 71-year-old man allegedly beaten by youth in downtown Red Deer

Following an investigation, four youths were arrested and charged with aggravated assault, while the arrests of two other suspects are pending. The youths cannot be named due to their age. RCMP cannot confirm their age at this time.

They have each been released and are slated to appear Sept. 21 at Alberta Court of Youth Justice in Red Deer.

Meantime, rdnewsNOW has learned more about the impacts of the incident, speaking with the victim’s wife, who has asked to remain anonymous.

The man’s wife says they’ve lived just outside Red Deer since the 1980s, and that night — a Tuesday — the man had come into town to pick up a couple of items from the Treasure Hunt store, located in the former Co-op grocery store.

She eventually received a call from police notifying her of her husband’s medical state. Later, having arrived to see him at the hospital, where he ultimately stayed for two-and-a-half weeks, she recalls her husband was covered in blood.

“His head looked kicked in,” she shared with rdnewsNOW, adding that her husband is a pretty mellow guy. “His eye was like a plum.”

She says her hubby is now going for rehab and has had problems with his short-term memory since the attack. She also fears leaving him home alone for any length of time, adding that he’s having vision problems.

“The light bothers him and he doesn’t remember a thing about what happened to him.”

Miraculously, she says, no bones were broken.

“I have to ask, where are the parents, because these kids are going to end up in jail. How could they do this to an elderly man just going about his business? Where is this coming from? It’s hard to wrap my head around it having raised two good kids myself,” she says.

“What I would say to the kids is that they’ve changed our lives, and not for the good. I don’t understand it. I’d intended to work for another five years, but now I’m not quite so sure.”

She says her husband recently took up beekeeping, and loved to garden as well as do word games and sudoku puzzles every morning, but, “now he can’t even attempt them.”

A GoFundMe has been set up to help the family.

Anyone that may have information on this crime should contact the Red Deer RCMP at 403-406-2200. If you wish to remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS), online at www.P3Tips.com or using the “P3 TIPS” app available through the Apple App or Google Play Store.

To report crime online, or for access to RCMP news and information, download the Alberta RCMP app through Apple or Google Play.

by Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

Charges laid after 71-year-old man allegedly beaten by youth in downtown Red Deer

What's Trending