Trial for teens accused of assaulting Red Deer senior concludes

The incident in question was said to have occurred between 8:18-8:20 p.m., on Aug. 1, 2023, in the alleyway parallel to the rear of a strip mall at 5020 47 Avenue — directly behind Murph’s Pub and what was at the time a store called Treasure Hunt (also formerly a Co-Op grocery store).

Surveillance footage was played in court, with the first video showing several youth running and walking up and down the alley. Another video from more north up the alley, and just seconds later, showed the youth again; a white SUV drives partway south down the alley, then stops.

Moments later, in the video’s peripheral, the teens could be seen assaulting the driver of the SUV before dispersing.

Court spoke very briefly this week about another purported incident on the other side of the building, which explained why the victim of the eventual assault was driving somewhat aggressively down the lane in pursuit of the teen or teens involved.

rdnewsNOW interviewed the victim’s wife on Sept. 9, 2023, and learned that the man had suffered serious head injuries. She had said at the time that upon arrival at the hospital to see her husband, “his head looked kicked in.”

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Court heard testimony this week from a 16-year-old girl who was a friend of those alleged to have assaulted the man.

The girl, who lives in Ontario, was living out of a youth shelter in summer 2023, nearby the location of the incident.

She testified that her and some people, the number of which she could not recall, had been drinking in the field at Central Middle School that evening. The eastern edge of the school’s field abuts the alleyway where the incident occurred.

The girl, whose name is included under the automatic youth publication ban, said she had known the people she’d been hanging out with that day for different periods of time, but no one long-term, save for her twin sister who was also present.

Though all five accused were in the courtroom Tuesday, she could only identify three, which is when the charges against the other two were dropped. Later on, when watching the video of the assault, however, she identified all five plus others who are not named in this case.

Justice W.A. Skinner noted Thursday that this is a case in which the primary issue is identity, and recognition.

Skinner said that even if the court is satisfied with the identities of those present during the incident, it must also be certain about each person’s role in the assault.

“Mere presence,” Skinner remarked, is not enough.

Shifting back to Wednesday, the man who was the victim in the incident, Ronald Neuman, took to the stand.

He answered various questions about his injuries, what he liked to do before the incident, and how his health has changed since, but had, “no idea,” about what happened that fateful day.

Medical testing after the incident indicated Neuman suffered a traumatic brain injury and concussion, plus multiple lacerations to his head and knee.

His belief is that although his short-term memory had been improving, it has recently worsened. Long-term memory is gradually coming back, and his ability to walk has improved, he told court.

“It’s been hard on my family life; hard to learn things,” he said. “I don’t know what I’m missing.”

Neuman’s wife was also forced into early retirement and a large paycut in order to provide care.

Neuman said he’s had recurring nightmares of working at his previous employer, Canada Post, and in the nightmares he has to cope with the impacts of his real-life brain injury.

A third witness testified Wednesday — the woman who saw Neuman on the ground in the alley and called 911.

To begin closing arguments Thursday, Crown Prosecutor Greg Gordon reasoned the reliability of the testimony from the 16-year-old friend was in fact enhanced, despite her inability to pick out all five accused in the courtroom earlier in the week.

Gordon said that showed she was not just picking people out randomly, but rather, she took the time to look around the courtroom, and was clear about whom she recognized and whom she did not.

Gordon also opined the video quality presented was relatively good and that it showed, though at a distance, that everyone who was there either punched or kicked Neuman at some point.

Neuman was punched, he stumbled, and then a melee took place where, among other things, he was stomped on, Gordon listed.

Representing the one of the remaining accused who was in custody all week on an unrelated matter, Defence Lawyer Bonnie Ewing questioned the friend’s testimony.

She called it ‘recognition evidence’ as opposed to ‘identification evidence,’ and claimed this type of evidence is, “notoriously unreliable.”

Ewing said the testimony should not be given undue weight, and that even witnesses who are convincing and honest can mistakenly identify people, leading to wrongful convictions.

She also noted that the friend admitted she had consumed alcohol the afternoon of Aug. 1, 2023 and was intoxicated.

She had only a side-view of Ewing’s client in the video, and identified him on the shape of his face and a hair bun, Ewing added, also calling into question the actually quality of the video.

Defence Lawyer Rodney Clark, representing another of the three, argued the friend’s testimony should be given zero weight, while the final of the defence lawyers, Hannah Volk, stated that if there’s any doubt about who was involved, the court cannot convict.

Volk and Clark also alluded to the friend’s intoxication and the questionable level of acquaintance the group of friends actually had.

On final rebuttal, Gordon took issue with defence’s assertion that there was not foundation enough for the friend to have known the others well enough to identify them.

He called her combined recognition of them in the courthouse, on video and in photos, “cogent.”

He also described as, “speculative,” an assertion by defence that the friend used the, “the process of elimination,” to identify the accused in the courtroom on Tuesday.

The trio charged each face one count of aggravated assault. None of them were called to testify during the trial.

by Josh Hall | @Vancan19

Trial for teens accused of assaulting Red Deer senior concludes

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