B.C. man found guilty of phone booth attack

The man accused of assault after ramming his truck into an occupied phone booth in Coalmont, B.C. in 2015 has been found guilty.

Roland Giroux, 69, was charged with assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm for the assault on Warren Spence, a former business partner. Court heard on the first day of trial that on March 29, 2015, Giroux crashed his vehicle into the booth at approximately 25 to 30 miles per hour, then left the vehicle and proceeded to chase Spence brandishing his walking stick 

Court heard closing arguments to the two-day trial on Wednesday. The defence's argument was that Giroux, who suffers from epilepsy, was having a seizure at the time of the incident which caused his erratic actions and resulted in memory loss. 

Defence lawyer James Pennington said the Crown didn't have enough evidence to prove the incident didn't unfold the way they purported. 

"A tie goes to the runner," Pennington said. 

But the judge was not sold. He pointed to crime scene evidence from tire track markings that Giroux passed the phone booth, turned around, came to a full stop and accelerated directly at the phone booth where Spence was. 

He also pointed to a fact admitted by both Crown and defence that Giroux told Spence "If I can get this car going, I am going to finish the job," immediately following the crash. 

"The theory of an epileptic seizure is inconsistent with what happened after," the judge said, which included lucid statements about the incident within hours of it happening that contradict the defence's argument that Giroux completely blacked out. 

"It is possible that Mr. Giroux has no memory of the events immediately surrounding the incident, though I have no confidence that is the case," the judge said. "It was only after his arrest that he reported the loss of consciousness."

He added that even if Giroux does not have memory of the event, the evidence remains compelling against Giroux. 

"The only reasonable inference to draw from the evidence is that Mr. Giroux intended to assault Mr. Spence with his motor vehicle," the judge said. 

Giroux was pronounced guilty on both counts of assault. Giroux's counsel requested an adjournment until 2 p.m. to confer as to their intentions going forward, which was granted. Castanet will have an update at that time. 

— Chelsea Powrie, Castanet