The defence began calling witnesses to the stand this week in the continuation of the 2004 Pender Harbour May Day assaults trial. Judge William Rodgers found the Crown had sufficient evidence to proceed with the trial on most of the charges after the defence put forward a no-evidence motion. However, Rodgers discharged one of the accuseds on one count of possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose. In addition, Rodgers discharged all five accuseds on the four counts the Crown said last week it is no longer pursuing. The remaining charges are four counts of assault causing bodily harm, two counts of assault with a weapon and three counts of assault for all five accuseds - Daryl Costello, Drew Johnson, Paul Johnson, Michael Webb and Daniel Wood. With the exception of Wood, the other four accuseds are also facing one count of possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose. Rodgers found there was no evidence Wood had possessed, aided and abetted or had knowledge of a hockey stick being used as a weapon.
The five Gibsons-area men were charged with assaulting with hockey sticks a group of longboarders who were camping at a private property in Kleindale during Pender Harbour's May Day long weekend festivities in 2004.
Greg Cranston, lawyer for Drew and Paul Johnson, called both his clients to the witness stand. The Johnsons' testimonies told a different story of the night than that of Crown witness testimonies - one where the two accuseds were fighting back to defend themselves after Paul was hit on the head with a bottle and that they tried to escape from the scene. Paul testified he used a hockey stick to clear the crowd away from his truck when the driver was trying to reverse out. In cross-examination, Crown counsel Trevor Cock-field suggested the Johnsons did not go to the hospital or to the Sunshine Coast RCMP after they left the scene to report Paul's head injury from the bottle because they had started the fight.
The Johnsons' father briefly took the stand. Also taking the stand on Tuesday and Wednesday were two defence witnesses who said they were with the Johnsons the night of May 23, travelling in the same truck. Paul testified the two friends performed first aid on his bleeding head. One of the witnesses testified Paul definitely had a concussion.
Cockfield also suggested in Paul's cross-examination that because of Paul's head injury, he may have hit someone in the back of the head with a stick but not remembered. But Paul responded he did not believe he did. Earlier in the week, before starting to call witnesses, Cranston made a second Charter of Rights application on behalf of Paul, which Rodgers dismissed after hearing evidence on the application. The application was filed under the right to life, liberty and security of the person based on lost evidence of a witness identifying photos in a lineup. One of the Crown witnesses had earlier testified the Sunshine Coast RCMP showed him a photo lineup at the detachment and that he had identified two people in the photos. But the RCMP could not find documented evidence of the witness being shown and identifying photos. Rodgers found that police failure to note showing the witness the photos was careless but did not prejudice the accused's right to a fair trial. Also, there was evidence from the witness identifying Paul other than the testimony of identification from the photo lineup, Rodgers decided.
The trial continues this week.
