LIFE GOES ON WITH MOLLY
Robert Carignan is looking forward to getting back to work next week as he recovers from a savage beating on July 23. He was taking his beagle, Molly, for a walk when he was pulled from his wheelchair, beaten and left for dead near Spadina Crescent and 23rd Street. Carignan, who has a steel plate in his jaw and still has pain, says he is resolved not to live his life in fear. His accused attacker has a preliminary hearing Nov. 17.
About 100 days have passed since Robert Carignan was pulled from his wheelchair and badly beaten.
Although he’s still healing — with a steel plate in his jaw and pain in much of his body — he’s looking beyond the early morning attack of July 23 that left him in critical condition and clinging to life in hospital.
Sipping a coffee with his beloved beagle Molly on his lap at a downtown Saskatoon coffee shop, he recalled the moment when he first saw the man who would allegedly pull him from his chair and attack him, jumping on his limbs and his head until he lost consciousness.
Now, he doesn’t spend a lot of time thinking about his attacker.
“My big goal is just to live on my own again,” he said.
Carignan has Kennedy’s Disease, a genetic condition that causes muscle weakness. He uses a wheelchair to get around, but was previously able to walk a few steps and care for himself.
He said his mobility has become more limited after the attack — he can barely stand. He hopes a fitting for a pair of knee braces next week will help the situation. His left arm will likely never return to normal and he expects other lingering effects, but he has no plans to let pain from the attack hold him back, he said.
Justin James Crowe, who was 25 at the time of his arrest, is charged with attempted murder and uttering threats in connection with the alleged attack. He is also charged with attacking an elderly man with a skateboard at a bus shelter in Winnipeg in 2016.
Carignan said for the last five years he has regularly walked with Molly in the area where he was attacked, and he has no intention of changing that habit.
“I hope it doesn’t happen again. I don’t expect it to, but I’m not going to live my life in fear because of that one incident,” he said.
Carignan said he was overwhelmed by the support of his family, co-workers and others.
He’s anxious to get back to work, and is set to return next week to his job as an information technology specialist for the Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority (SIGA).
Crowe is due back in court on Nov. 17 for a preliminary hearing.
When asked about what we would say to his alleged attacker, he said: “Going around hating somebody and being angry at them isn’t going to do me any good. I just hope he gets some help.”