Carjacking trial awaits verdict

By Delon Shurtz on May 14, 2021.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com

The lawyer for a man accused of committing a series of violent offences 18 months ago, didn’t call any evidence during his client’s trial this week in Lethbridge provincial court.
Calgary lawyer Andre Ouellette didn’t put Cory Ray Williams on the stand Thursday after the Crown concluded its case. The matter now rests in the hands of Judge Gregory Maxwell, who is expected to give his decision July 14.
Williams faces numerous charges, including kidnapping, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, assault with a weapon, flight from police, dangerous driving, uttering threats to cause death, housebreaking and robbery.
Williams is accused of attacking his brother with a machete Oct. 20, 2019. Several minutes later, and only a couple of blocks away, a man approached a parked car and held a machete to the driver’s throat. The man forced the driver, Wesley McNeil, to drive him toward the reserve, but part way there kicked him out of the vehicle and sped away. The carjacker returned and began chasing another vehicle that had picked up McNeil on the side of the highway.
RCMP chased the carjacker to Fort Macleod where they later found the abandoned vehicle. A few hours later police learned someone had stolen a vehicle from a Fort Macleod residence and had taken it to Lethbridge.
Two days later police responded to a disturbance along 2 Avenue South in Lethbridge where a man was wielding a sword.
While police responded to the call, they received information of an attempted carjacking in the area.
Crown witness Richard Neudorf testified he was sitting in his vehicle when a man opened the passenger door and held a knife to his throat. Neudorf was able to grab the weapon and disarm the assailant, who then pulled out another knife but jumped on a bicycle and fled.
Although defence does not dispute the facts of the case, identification of the suspect is disputed. Neither victim was able to identify their assailant, although Williams’ DNA was discovered on a baseball cap that was found on the ground where McNeil was dropped off on the side of the road.

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