Manfined inviolent hammer attack
A man who lost the use of an eye during a violent altercation captured on video walked away from the Montreal courthouse on Tuesday with nothing more than a fine.
Besides being fined $150 for having used brass knuckles during a fight that he started, Sylvain Gauthier, 36, was left with a permanent reminder — his badly damaged left eye — of what happened inside a convenience store in the Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough on March 21, 2017.
The bizarre series of events began early that morning as Yan (Tarzan) Lafrenière, 26, and his then-pregnant girlfriend stood outside their home. The couple argued over how much alcohol Lafrenière had consumed the night before.
As the couple squabbled, a small group of people, including Gauthier, passed by and, for reasons that were never made clear to police, Gauthier began hurling insults at the couple and their nephew.
The group left, but Gauthier, who appeared to be intoxicated, returned minutes later and made threatening gestures toward the couple. Lafrenière responded by pepper-spraying Gauthier in an effort to protect his girlfriend and nephew. Gauthier left the area, but returned a second time and appeared to be carrying what Lafrenière’s girlfriend feared was a knife.
She called 911 while she and Lafrenière ran to the nearby convenience store to seek help.
The last part of the altercation was recorded by a security camera inside the store. The recording was presented as evidence on March 29, when Lafrenière pleaded guilty to assaulting Gauthier and was sentenced to an overall two-year prison term.
The recording shows that Gauthier grabbed Lafrenière’s girlfriend by the collar and dragged her to the floor even though she informed him that she was 15 weeks pregnant and wanted to be left alone.
Within seconds, Lafrenière jumped in and began delivering what turned out to be at least 16 heavy blows with a hammer, including one directly to Gauthier’s face, which probably caused the severe damage to his eyeball and socket.
A man who was working behind the store’s counter grabbed a baseball bat and tried to separate the men. But by the time they were pulled apart, Gauthier was left lying on the floor suffering from wounds that required emergency surgery.
A witness dressed in a cow costume is seen in the video watching the altercation while standing in the store’s doorway. A Good Samaritan who was inside the store at the time helped pry the woman from Gauthier’s grasp.
Gauthier was ultimately charged with assaulting Lafrenière’s girlfriend and with uttering threats, but on Tuesday prosecutor Harry Pierre-Étienne said the Crown would not present evidence on those charges.
Following a very brief summary of what happened by defence lawyer Benoît Cliche, Quebec Court Judge Linda Despots accepted Gauthier’s guilty plea to having possessed the brass knuckles, a prohibited weapon, and acquitted him on the two other charges following Pierre-Étienne’s announcement.
Despots was not shown the video presented as evidence during Lafrenière’s sentence hearing.
She also was not presented with a joint statement of facts, also presented at Lafrenière’s sentence hearing, that described Gauthier as the clear instigator of the fight.