Prosecutor wants jail for man in beating

Tyler Kinghorn and Heather Bears had no idea what was about to happen to them as they quietly left Cowboys Dance Hall at 2: 40 a. m. on Dec. 30, 2012.

As they exited the elevator from the hall to the parkade, a stranger — Addison Joseph Hartzler — rushed up until he was immediately behind them, tapped then pushed Kinghorn on the shoulder and whispered to Kinghorn, “I’m going to rape your girlfriend,” Crown prosecutor Rosalind Greenwood said in reading an agreed statement of facts at Hartzler’s sentencing hearing for assault causing bodily harm on Wednesday.

Kinghorn replied, “are you sure you want to do that?” Hartzler then swings his right fist, striking Kinghorn in the left lower jaw, then again on the left side of the face.

Another man, who was with Hartzler, 23, then joins in and the two men initiate a fight with Kinghorn that would involve repeated kicking and punching of the victim, sending him to hospital unconscious with a severe hemorrhagic contusion ( bleeding within the brain).

Kinghorn, 22, also received stitches for lacerations on the back of his head in the unprovoked random attack that was caught on surveillance video and was played in court.

“A message needs to be sent that gratuitous acts of violence against strangers will be met with harshly,” Greenwood, seeking a two- year prison sentence plus two years probation, told Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Keith Yamauchi.

“This is an unmitigated predatory attack on Kinghorn and Bears that has left them with long- term physical and psychological effects.”

Kinghorn said in reading his victim impact statement in court that the injuries have affected his short- term memory, his focus and his ability to do many things, such as reading properly.

He said he also gets headaches, migraines and numbness on the left side of his body, he has difficulty sleeping and can’t speak as well as he used to do.

Kinghorn said he now tries to avoid crowded places, for fear of the same thing happening again.

Bears, who was not hurt physically, wrote in her victim statement that she has suffered emotionally having seen her close friend kicked and beaten, seeing him lying on the ground thinking he was bleeding to death.

She said that now just walking anywhere at night gives her a scary feeling.

The judge adjourned the hearing for defence lawyer Kim Ross to prepare his final argument.