Lawyers make final arguments in assault trial

Appropriately enough for a trial that focused on the aggravated assault of a psychiatrist, the attacker’s lawyer complained to a jury Thursday he had been “placed in a straightjacket” by the judge overseeing the case.

Despite that protest, Crown counsel Sarah Firestone countered in her closing address to jurors that the evidence against Gregory Stanley Nield is strong — considering he admitted to the Dec. 5, 2014 attack on Dr. Rajeev Sheoran at Penticton Regional Hospital.

“There’s no question (Sheoran) sustained these injuries at the hands of Mr. Nield,” Firestone said.

“And the Crown says it has proven there is no reason that Mr. Nield should not be held accountable for those injuries.”

Firestone reminded jurors, who began hearing the trial Monday in B.C. Supreme Court, that an aggravated assault is defined as the application of force to someone against his will that results in wounding or disfigurement.

She then recounted the injuries suffered by Sheoran, who testified to sustaining a broken jaw, shattered cheekbone and brain damage that has left him unable to resume his duties full-time.

Firestone went on to remind the jury the 31-year-old Nield — despite being held involuntarily in the PRH psychiatric ward at the time — “is presumed not to have a mental disorder, and as a consequence, there’s a presumption that he intends what happens from his actions.”

Noting that Nield twice in the week leading up to the assault fled the ward by simply climbing a fence and had called a lawyer to review his case, Firestone also suggested there were other ways, besides attacking Sheoran, to escape being held against his will.

“Instead, Mr. Nield chose to take out his anger, his frustrations and even his fears on the man who was trying to help him return to his regular routine,” Firestone concluded.

Defence counsel Stan Tessmer told the jury the trial had been the most frustrating of his 30-year legal career, because he was not allowed to introduce evidence about the effects of the medications his client was given in hospital, nor about Nield’s belief that he had been improperly certified under the Mental Health Act.

“I feel like I’ve been placed in a straightjacket to try to defend Mr. Nield. I wanted to introduce a great number of things, and I wasn’t permitted to do so,” said Tessmer.

“Can you imagine if you were being kept against your will, and being given drugs against your will, and those drugs were harming you? Wouldn’t you want the judge and jury to know about that?” he asked rhetorically.

Nonetheless, the lawyer still managed to put those defences in front of the jury, despite being interrupted by several objections from Firestone.

Tessmer accused Sheoran of malpractice, perjury and fraud, citing the doctor’s admissions on the witness stand that he had shredded some personal notes, removed documents from Nield’s hospital file and failed to send reports to the B.C. Medical Services Plan on the same day he billed for work.

“I hesitate to name call, but I wouldn’t wish Dr. Sheoran on my worst enemy,” said Tessmer.

He went on to note his client was diagnosed with drug-induced psychosis after he admitted to taking magic mushrooms for 30 days straight to treat migraine headaches. The lawyer suggested Nield ought to have been detoxified before being put on medications at PRH.

Tessmer also pointed out that Nield, who had worked as a massage therapist in Summerland, was described by nurses and police as behaving like a “zombie” after the assault, and therefore had demonstrated “complete inability to form rational intention” to commit an assault.

Justice Hope Hyslop reminded the jury afterwards “there are some things Mr. Tessmer should not have said to you, and what Mr. Tessmer says is not evidence.”

Jurors are set to receive instructions from the judge this morning before beginning their deliberations.