Judge receives final submissions on case of woman involved in swarming attack on boy

By Tim Kalinowski on July 30, 2021.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDtkalinowski@lethbridgeherald.com

The case of a woman accused of being part of a gang-style attack against a younger boy more than a year ago is now in the hands of the judge.
Judge Gregory Maxwell received final submissions from Crown lawyer Adam Zelmer and Calgary lawyer Andre Ouellette in Lethbridge provincial court on Thursday with the Crown stating it believes it has presented enough evidence to show Trinity Savard, 19, was a willing participant in a violent swarming attack against another boy with several other individuals.
This was contested by Ouellette who pointed to statements made by Savard’s younger sister who testified Savard was actually trying to help get the attackers off of the victim before fleeing in fear from the scene when the attack was interrupted by a Good Samaritan whose challenge frightened the swarmers away.
Zelmer rebutted these claims by pointing out the sister has stated she thinks of Savard “as being like a mother” to her, putting the evidential value of her testimony in doubt. Zelmer also produced sworn statements from another witness at the scene who said the only one who tried to help the victim was the Good Samaritan and not Savard.
At trial earlier this year, Ouellette chose not to call any evidence or have his client testify in court.
Savard was also not at the Lethbridge Courthouse on Thursday by consent of the court due to the difficulties Savard would have travelling to Lethbridge right now due to wildfires in British Columbia near where she now resides.
A date to hear the verdict in the case will be set on Aug. 13 in Lethbridge provincial court.
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 during Savard’s trial in April 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 testified he still has difficulty walking and has not regained all of his balance, and he occasionally has “shooting pain” in his thigh.
Although Savard did not stab the boy, she was charged as party to the offence. Another youth testified in April that he did the stabbing. He pleaded guilty previously in youth court and is awaiting sentencing.
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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