Verdict awaits for woman charged in gang-style attack on youth

By Delon Shurtz on August 17, 2021.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com

A Lethbridge judge will give his verdict later this year on whether a woman is guilty of participating in a vicious attack against a younger boy nearly two years ago.
Judge Gregory Maxwell is expected to rule Nov. 29 on whether Trinity Savard, whose matter was in court Friday, is guilty of aggravated assault in relation to the December 2019 incident.
The 18-year-old woman stood trial in April, but never testified, and her lawyer, Andre Ouellette of Calgary, never called any evidence.
However, the victim, who can’t be identified because he was only 16 years old at the time, testified during Savard’s trial that he had arranged to buy some marijuana from the woman and met her at a strip mall near her apartment on the northside. After a brief discussion they headed to her residence to get the marijuana, but as they walked through an alley 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 at 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.
The victim 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 is not accused of stabbing the boy, she was charged as party to the offence.
Ouellette said during a sentencing hearing last month that Savard actually tried to stop the attack, before she fled with the assailants after a nearby resident intervened. The Crown refuted that claim, and noted a witness said the only person who tried to help the victim was the resident.
One of the assailants testified during the trial and admitted he stabbed the other boy. He pleaded guilty previously in youth court and is awaiting sentencing. Another youth who pleaded guilty last month to aggravated assault, was sentenced to six months of custody and three months of community supervision for being a party to the assault, 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 year and was sentenced to 16 months in jail, minus 13 1/2 months for time he spent in pre-trial custody.

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