Woman won’t testify in her trial for aggravated assault

By Delon Shurtz on April 10, 2021.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com

A woman accused of being part of a gang-style attack against a younger boy more than a year ago in Lethbridge was not called to testify at her trial this week.
After hearing from numerous Crown witnesses for two and a half days, the Crown concluded its case Friday, and Calgary lawyer Andre Ouellette chose not to call any evidence or have his client, Trinity Savard, testify in court.
The case has been adjourned until May 28 when the Crown and defence will provide Judge Gregory Maxwell with their closing arguments. Maxwell could provide his decision then or adjourn it to a later date.
Savard, 19, is charged with aggravated assault in relation to an attack about midnight on Dec. 5, 2019 in which a 16-year-old boy was brutally beaten and stabbed.
The victim, who can’t be identified because he was only 16 years old at the time, testified Wednesday that he had arranged to buy some marijuana from Savard and met her at a strip mall near her apartment on the northside. After a brief discussion they began walking to her residence to get the marijuana, but he was attacked by a group of people.
Several individuals ran up behind him, knocked him to the ground and began kicking and punching him. One of the attackers also stabbed him.
“They were all kicking and punching me,” he testified on day one of the trial. Then one of his attackers got on top of him and stabbed him three times in the back before they all ran away.
He was paralyzed from the waist down and had to be flown to a Calgary hospital where he remained for several months. He still has difficulty walking and has not regained all of his balance, he testified, and he occasionally has “shooting pain” in his thigh.
Although Savard, who now lives in B.C., did not stab the boy, she was charged as party to the offence. Another youth testified Thursday that he did the stabbing. He pleaded guilty previously in youth court and is scheduled to be sentenced next month.
During Friday’s trial Sgt. Liam Breedon of the priority crimes unit told court he searched Savard’s apartment where a BB gun and several knives were found. 
According to an agreed statement of facts presented to the court at the beginning of the trial, a knife was found on the top of some blinds in one of the bedrooms. DNA on the blade belonged to the victim, while DNA on the handle belonged to the Crown witness who admitted to the stabbing.
Another youth who was charged has pleaded not guilty and is preparing for trial, and a 20-year-old man, who was also considered a party to the offence, was charged with aggravated assault and theft over $5,000. He pleaded guilty to the charges last June and was sentenced in September to 16 months in jail, minus 13 1/2 months for time he spent in pre-trial custody.

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