Video of diver finding man’s body shown at manslaughter trial
Trial of accused Brockville girl hears victim made two 911 calls seeking help
As people in an Ontario Court of Justice courtroom sat transfixed in horror, the Crown played an Ontario Provincial Police diver’s video of the discovery of Damian Sobieraj’s body.
The video, filmed by the diver’s GoPro, showed the slow search of the bottom of the St. Lawrence River until the diver spotted the outline of Sobieraj’s body face down in the weeds in about 16 feet of water.
The 33-year-old man was wearing a red plaid shirt, jeans and white sneakers. His right hand grasped a cellphone.
As the diver turned over the body to show Sobieraj’s face, friends and supporters of Sobieraj’s mother Iwona erupted into sobs of anguish in the courtroom. They gathered around the grieving mother to comfort her.
Crown prosecutor Alan Findlay had quietly warned Iwona Sobieraj that the video was about to be screened but she decided to stay and watch.
The diver filmed the recovery of the body at 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 14, 2018, about 18 hours after Sobieraj is believed to have gone into the water off Hardy Park. A Brockville girl, who was then 14, has been charged with manslaughter in his death.
At 10:30 p.m. on Sept. 13, 2018, Sobieraj made two 911 calls to Brockville police, which were played during the trial on Tuesday.
“I’m here in Hardy Park, walking my dog when a bunch of teenagers attacked me,” Sobieraj tells the dispatcher in the first garbled call.
The dispatcher tries to get the excited-sounding Sobieraj to pin down where he is in the park — “It’s a big park, where are you in the park?”
The call ends and another garbled call follows.
“I need help,” Sobieraj calls as shouting voices are heard in the background. “I don’t want a boost,” Sobieraj seems to say. “I need help. You guys attacked me,” he shouts to someone else, as the call is disconnected.
The dispatcher says: “Our guys are on the way.”
On day two of the manslaughter trial, prosecutor Findlay called witnesses who were in the park before the 911 call.
Two youths, who can’t be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, testified they went to Hardy Park with three friends on Sept. 13, 2018 at 6 or 7 p.m. to hang out and charge one of their cellphones at the park’s bandshell.
There they met another group of kids, who numbered about 25 by one youth’s estimate, and they began arguing about a rumble that occurred at Brockville Collegiate Institute a few days earlier.
The argument became heated and one member of the larger group threatened to call his friends to beat up the group of five, the two youths testified.
The youths and their friends decided to leave to avoid a fight. They said they heard that some of the other kids had knives, but they didn’t see any.
As the five walked out of the park, the accused 14-year-old, who was part of the larger group of kids, ran after them, screaming she was going to kill them all, the youths testified.
The five outran the pursuing girl, who gave up the chase.
Defence lawyer François Dulude suggested that his client chased the five boys because they had insulted her appearance. One of the youths allowed that he or one of his friends might have called the girl “a whale.”
Tom Marshall, an Ottawa university student, said he crossed paths with Sobieraj in Hardy Park at about 9:40 p.m.
Like Sobieraj, Marshall is a Pokemon Go aficionado and he met Sobieraj by chance in the park’s parking lot. The pair chatted about their pastime for about 10 minutes — Marshall was leaving after playing Pokemon while Sobieraj was just starting his game.
Marshall testified that he had noticed youths in the park along the riverside boardwalk earlier as he played the game. There were two girls sitting on a bench with about four boys nearby. One of the girls who spoke to him — she wasn’t the accused — appeared to be high, he testified.
Earlier on day two of the trial, Brockville police Det.-Const. Steve Rogers showed videos and photos he took of Hardy Park to familiarize Justice Kimberly Moore with the alleged crime scene.
Close to where Sobieraj’s body was discovered is a ladder into the water and an emergency station with a 911 hotline, a reaching pole and a life-saving ring. The area is well lit.
Dulude pointed out that the life-saving ring was missing on the day after Sobieraj went into the water.
The trial continues. wlowrie@postmedia.com