The trial of two cousins charged in a 2012 incident that left a man with brain injuries continued in Barrie this week.
The victim, 31-year-old Ryan Turcotte, suffered catastrophic head injuries and required several brain surgeries following the incident in the Duckworth Plaza in June 2012, after a group of partygoers exiteda bus from the Kee to Bala.
Courtney Lewis, 26, and Aaron Lewis, 23, have eachpleadednot guilty to aggravated assault.
The incident was caught on a cell phone camera and was played in court.
The video shows Turcotte surrounded, being punchedandshoved,and propellingbackwards. The crack of his head hitting the pavement can be heard as he falls.
Turcotte was rushed to St. Mike’s hospital with severe head trauma where he underwent several brain surgeries.
During the trial Turcotte told the jury the cousins were trying to pick fights with everyone on the bus.
“It was getting ridiculous. I looked at them and I said, ‘guys, like chill out,” said Turcotte in court. He said Lewis responded “who the f—k are you?”
Turcotte testified that after he got off the bus he was surrounded. “I just wanted to go home to bed,” Turcotte told the court. “Next thing I knew I was getting hit from every direction.”
The bus driver also testified this week that the group surrounded Turcotte.
The Crown alleges it was a group attack, and not a fight,but the defence argues it was a consensual fight.
Courtney Lewis testified this week that Turcotte started the altercation by grabbing his collar.
“I only hit him to get him off me and then other people jumped in,” said Lewis court.
He testified his cousin Aaron wasn’t an attacker and that “I tried to diffuse the situation, I was a mediator,” added Lewis.
The Crown suggested he was looking for a fight. “You mediated with your fists,” said the Crown.
Lawyers will make their closing arguments next week and the fate of the two men will be in the hands of the jury.
