Nova Scotia judge urges nose- biter to ‘ move on’

A Nova Scotia judge is urging a man to let go of a nose biting incident after blocking the man’s eff orts to appeal his aggravated assault conviction. Randall MacLean was sentenced to six months in jail and a year of probation last February after being found guilty of aggravated assault for his conduct during an alcohol- fuelled brawl at an October 2014 wake in Pictou, N. S.

In a decision released on Friday, Justice Anne Derrick of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal denied MacLean’s motion for an extension of time to appeal the October 2016 conviction. Derrick recounted some of the evidence presented during MacLean’s trial before Nova Scotia provincial court Judge Del Atwood, who in his ruling mused about how the convergence of grief and intoxication left one mourner with his nose partially severed, and another facing an aggravated assault charge.

MacLean, an old friend of the deceased, was drunk when he arrived at the home in downtown Pictou where the wake was being held, as were many of the other mourners, court documents said.

At some point, tensions erupted between the guests and several men tried to eject MacLean from the house. During a struggle, MacLean clamped his teeth on a man’s nose, severing the tip, according to the ruling. “The witnesses called by the prosecution who were inside the home during this kerfuffle have off ered varying accounts of this traumatic tableau. That is almost to be expected, given the fact that almost everyone present was inebriated,” Atwood wrote in his ruling. But he said he was able to wade through the “alcoholthickened fog of this war” to determine that MacLean had been “manhandled” during his ejection, but not hit as he had claimed.