Guilty plea entered in bar-beating case
Brendan Lee Brooks, 32, of Fredericton, originally charged with aggravated assault but admitted Wednesday to lesser count of causing bodily harm to Troy Wells last year
A Fredericton man will be sentenced later this fall after admitting Wednesday to kicking another man in the back and head while he was on the ground outside a bar last year.
Brendan Lee Brooks, 32, of Gabe Acquin Drive, was scheduled to stand trial in Fredericton provincial court Wednesday on a charge of aggravated assault.
That charge alleged he wounded, maimed, disfigured or endangered the life of the victim, Troy Wells.
However, defence lawyer Ron Morris said the trial wouldn’t be proceeding, as after discussions with the Crown, his client had decided to plead guilty to the lesser, included offence of indictable assault causing bodily harm.
Crown prosecutor Rodney Jordan told court Wednesday that Brooks and Wells were both drinking at Speedbumps Sports Bar on Fredericton’s north side in the early-morning hours of March 27, 2022, when an altercation broke out between them on the bar’s back deck.
Video footage showed the pair talking on the deck at about 1:30 a.m. on the deck when Brooks hit Wells twice in the face, court heard.
Brooks then pushed Wells to the ground twice, the prosecutor said, and then he launched the victim off the deck to the adjacent pavement.
The bar’s security footage shows Brooks then kicking Wells in the back while he was still lying on the court, Jordan said, and then kicked him in the head.
Wells could be seen getting up and retreating to a nearby vehicle, he said.
“He had to seek medical attention,” Jordan said of the victim.
Wells reported he sustained a fractured jaw and an injury to his shoulder, the prosecutor said, adding that more information about his injuries will be presented to the court at Brooks’ sentencing hearing.
A bar staff member called police, Jordan said, but when they arrived on the scene at 1:44 a.m., Brooks and Wells were no longer present.
The prosecutor noted Wells had been proven to be a nuisance to bar staff on the night in question, and that it appears Brooks was trying to intervene.
Judge Lucie Mathurin ordered the preparation of a pre-sentence report and victim-impact statement for considering at Brooks’ sentencing hearing, which she scheduled for Nov. 30.
She told the defendant that while he may have been trying to step in to deal with an obnoxious patron, assaulting someone isn’t the way to do it. Furthermore, she said, it’s dangerous for everyone involved.
The judge pointed to a recent incident in Saint John that led to prison time for a young man who assaulted a fellow bar patron, who died as a result.
Garrett Johnston punched Mark Baker in the face outside a Saint John strip club in October 2019 reportedly because the victim had been bothering a couple of women outside the establishment.
After being struck, Baker fell and hit his head. He was taken to hospital but died from his injuries the next day.
Johnston was sentenced to three years in prison.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.