Man guilty of aggravated assault in nose-biting incident

A Pictou man who was charged after biting the tip of another man’s nose has been found guilty of aggravated assault.

Randall Edwin MacLean was charged in October 2014 following a police investigation that a man had a serious injury to the tip of his nose following an altercation at a deceased person’s wake in a Pictou home.

MacLean pleaded not guilty to the charge and during the trial witnesses of the incident said that MacLean refused to leave the wake on his own during the evening hours of Oct. 10 so he was forcibly removed by some men.

Some of the witnesses described MacLean as lurching toward the victim as he was being ushered out the door and biting his nose.

Crown evidence, including photos of the victim before and after his visit to the Aberdeen Hospital, showed significant trauma that included torn nose tissue and bleeding. Stitches were needed to secure the skin back onto the nose.

In a police statement, MacLean said he was upset that people wanted him to leave the house and he questioned one of the men why he was being singled out. MacLean told police he was intoxicated, that he remembered biting the victim, but he didn’t know why it happened.

However, when MacLean took the stand in his defence at the trial he the court that he was walking toward the exit of the home after being asked to leave and, when the victim spoke to him, he leaned in closer to hear what he was saying.

He said he was then sucker punched in the head and became scared when people began hitting and pulling on him. He said the altercation caused him to become weak and in an attempt to balance himself, he latched on to the victim with his mouth.

MacLean said when the beating stopped, someone pulled him to his feet and a gap in his teeth caught on the victim’s nose and he felt the skin tear. He told the court his memory was much clearer of the event a few months after because when police questioned him he had a headache and ringing in his ears.

In delivering the verdict, Judge Del Atwood said the evidence at the trial clearly showed MacLean had been drinking alcohol before he arrived at the home and consumed more alcohol while he was there, as did other people.

He said MacLean was not doing anything wrong or dangerous when he asked to leave the home and it could have been the intoxication of others and the misinterpretation of events that led to the evening spiralling out of control.

The judge said if the other guests wanted MacLean to leave, they could have called the police to have him removed after he refused.

Atwood said MacLean’s explanation that he was trying to balance himself to keep from falling by latching onto the victim’s nose did not ring true because people use their arms or legs to maintain balance rather than bite into another person.

He said MacLean did not bite the victim’s nose because he wanted to defend or protect himself but rather because he was angry about being removed from the home without any reason.

The judge called MacLean’s explanation “farfetched and fantastic,” leaving him a state of reasonable doubt.

However, he said, the entire incident could have been avoided had the situation been handled differently by everyone involved.

“There were plenty enough poor decisions made by many that evening and morning and had Mr. MacLean gotten treated a little more gently, none of the bloodletting might have happened. Nevertheless, I find that the prosecution has proven each element of the offence beyond a reasonable doubt and the court would record a finding of guilt.”

MacLean will return to Pictou provincial court Jan. 3 for sentencing.