Bar patron not guilty of aggravated assault

A Toronto man has been found not guilty of an attack in a downtown St. Catharines bar that left a 43-year-old man with serious facial injuries because a judge ruled most of the parties involved were simply too intoxicated to recall what happened.

Kasey Kish, 33, had pleaded not guilty in a Superior Court of Justice in St. Catharines to a charge of aggravated assault in connection with the Dec. 12, 2014 incident at the Mikado Bar.

In court Friday, Judge Joseph Henderson said the majority of the witnesses to the incident were in varying stages of intoxication.

The various witnesses testified at trial Kish had smashed his beer glass into a man’s face after the two exchanged words.

The judge said the victim was “not a helpful or factual witness” because he has no memory of the assault.

Kish testified he stopped by the bar shortly before last call and engaged a woman in conversation, which he said appeared to anger the victim and a second male.

When Kish told the woman he worked in the movie industry, court was told, the two men called him a liar and a “jabroni” and approached him in a threatening manner. Kish said the victim grabbed him and held him by his collar.

He said he struck the victim in selfdefence because he felt the two men were about to assault him.

“He didn’t think about the glass in his hand,” Henderson said of the defendant’s testimony. “He was just trying to defend himself.”

The victim suffered serious injuries as result of the assault and lost six pints of blood.

He was taken to St. Catharines General Hospital and then transferred to a Hamilton hospital where he underwent surgery.

The victim suffered permanent nerve damage and has no feeling on the left side of his face.

The judge said he was left with a reasonable doubt as to Kish’s guilt.

“It is possible Kish is correct in his evidence,” Henderson said, before finding the defendant not guilty of the offence.

Kish fled the bar after the incident and Niagara Regional Police issued a warrant for his arrest. He subsequently turned himself in to police.