Victim was improving before death, court told

A Saskatoon man who died after an assault was initially suffering from a severe head injury, but he was actually improving prior to his death, says a neurosurgeon who treated the man at Royal University Hospital.

Dr. Michael Kelly testified Tuesday at the second-degree murder trial of Stacey Omer L’Herault, who is accused of killing Christopher Schaan. L’Herault was initially charged with aggravated assault against Schaan, who died in hospital on Feb. 21, 2015.

The Crown alleges Schaan was viciously attacked eight days earlier after he walked downstairs to the basement he shared in a home on Avenue F North in Saskatoon’s Mayfair neighbourhood.

Kelly said Schaan went into cardiac arrest three days after he was admitted to the intensive-care unit. The lack of blood flow to his brain put him into a comatose state, leading to his death, the doctor testified.

Court heard the family eventually elected to take Schaan off life support after hearing the “grim” prognosis from doctors. The bestcase scenario would see their loved one significantly disabled, likely in a vegetative statew.

Dr. Colin Gebhardt, the criticalcare specialist who treated Schaan, testified that the man was brought in with bleeding and bruising in his brain and fractures to his face and skull. He showed improvements in the following days, able to breathe on his own and follow simple commands, Kelly told the court.

But on Feb. 19, Gebhardt said the victim was non-responsive and unaware of his surroundings.

Crime scene investigators took photos and collected evidence from the basement where police were told the attack occurred. They swabbed what appeared to be blood-spattered jeans and boots.

A forensic identification officer photographed drug spoons beside Schaan’s bed and a syringe disposal box beside another bed in the open basement.

Witnesses told paramedics that Schaan was known to use crystal meth and had taken drugs the day he was assaulted.