A 36-year-old man on trial after a gay man was sucker-punched allegedly said “I’m not a faggot, he deserved it. He touched me,” a Vancouver court heard yesterday.
“You just don’t forget that,” said Kristi McNicholl, a waitress at the Fountainhead Pub where the attack occurred March 13, 2009. She testified she heard the victim’s head hit the floor after being punched.
Crown Counsel Jacinta Lawton said Ritchie Dowrey was left with a serious brain injury. She accused his attacker, Shawn Woodward, of acting unprovoked.
McNicholl said Woodward walked up to Dowrey, who was standing by a pool table, and punched him without exchanging words.
After the punch, Woodward is said to have walked out chased by patrons and staff. He was held by bouncers from the nearby Celebrities Night Club until police arrived.
Scott Larin, head bartender, said the Fountainhead is a known gay-friendly pub.
He testified that as the accused was being arrested, he said to an acquaintance, “remember what you were suppose to see?’”
Larin said the man responded, “Yeah, he touched him.”
The aggravated assault trial is scheduled for four days.
