Ukrainian newcomer left with scar, nightmares as 'constant reminder' of 2022 stabbing at The Forks, court told
CBC
WARNING: This story contains graphic details of violence:
A newcomer to Winnipeg from Ukraine who was bear-sprayed, stabbed in the neck and beaten two years ago says he still has nightmares from the "profound impact" of the unprovoked attack on Canada Day, just weeks after fleeing his war-torn home country.
He remembers clearly the moment a doctor told him, ahead of emergency surgery to repair a collapsed lung and jugular vein, that there was a "very real chance he would not survive."
"The pain, the surgery, and the scar serve as a constant reminder," Crown attorney Melissa Schrader said Tuesday as she read out the man's victim impact statement in a Winnipeg courtroom.
"They encroached on the most intimate thing I have, my life, without any reason."
Schrader asked for a six-year sentence for Tyson Cole Steven Bechard, 21, for his role in the three-on-one attack across from the the Canadian Museum for Human Rights on July 1, 2022. Bechard pleaded guilty to aggravated assault last fall.
Bechard, who was 19 at the time, was accused with another man his age, Jayden Kyle Martin, and a 15-year-old boy of attacking two Ukrainian refugees at The Forks after Canada Day celebrations at the national historic site.
The two victims had fled to Canada in late May and early June that year, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
As Bechard and three other friends were crossing the street in front of the museum that evening, one person in his group and one of the Ukrainian newcomers bumped into each other, Schrader said as she read out a statement of facts.
One of the newcomers apologized, court heard.
The three co-accused doubled back and attacked the men. A fourth in their group stayed out of it, according to Schrader.
The 15-year-old bear-sprayed the men, one of whom started to run, while the other fell to the ground.
Court heard that man said, "what is wrong, I don't understand," and asked his attackers to stop, calling them "comrade" and telling them he was from Ukraine.
Martin stabbed the man twice and the blade snapped off in his neck, court heard.
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