REASONS FOR JUDGMENT

BACKGROUND

[1] Aldwayne Rowe, age 33, stands charged with aggravated assault, assault with a weapon, knife, and possession of a weapon. The allegation is that in the early morning hours of Sunday, May 28, 2017 Mr. Rowe attacked Nicole Huntley, age 39 years, and cut her with a knife. She sustained an injury that required 46 stitches. The attack took place across the street from a nightclub called Twilight Banquet Hall where Ms. Huntley and her friends had been celebrating and where Mr. Rowe was scheduled to be a DJ.

[2] At the time of the attack, Ms. Huntley and Mr. Rowe were married but separated. They married in February 2014 and separated in 2016.

[3] Ms. Huntley and Mr. Rowe have a daughter together, five-year-old A.. Ms. Huntley also has a son by another relationship, N., age 17 years. They had a co-parenting arrangement with A. where Mr. Rowe would pick her up on weekends when he could. He would also pick her up at daycare on occasion. In the spring of 2016 both children were taken into care by the Children’s Aid Society (“the CAS”) for a period allegedly because Mr. Rowe was abusive toward them and Ms. Huntley did nothing to stop the abuse. The children were returned and CAS continued to have involvement with the family when required.

THE EVIDENCE

Lead Up to the Assault Incident

[4] Ms. Huntley testified for the Crown and Mr. Rowe testified in his own defence in this area of the evidence.

[5] The circumstances between Mr. Rowe and Ms. Hunley leading up to the assault are important to informing the toxic acrimony between them in the early morning hours of May 28, 2017. Ms. Huntley had undertaken during their marriage to sponsor Mr. Rowe for permanent residency in Canada. After the marriage breakdown she decided she would no longer be sponsoring him. But she said she had not told him that.

[6] The first relevant circumstance occurred on Thursday, May 25^th^ in connection with picking A. up at daycare. Mr. Rowe and Ms. Huntley tell two different stories about this.

[7] Ms. Huntley’s evidence was that she asked N. to pick up A.. According to Ms. Huntley, Mr. Rowe showed up at the daycare without her knowledge or permission. She testified there was an altercation between Mr. Rowe and N. over who would take A. home. The daycare ultimately allowed Mr. Rowe to take A. home. In a later phone call to Mr. Rowe, Ms. Huntley threatened to call the police because of the altercation with her son.

[8] Mr. Rowe’s version of the May 25^th^ event is that he was working in Mississauga on his construction job when his father called him to inform him that Ms. Huntley had called him requesting he ask Mr. Rowe to retrieve A. from daycare because it was raining. Mr. Rowe said he left work at around 1:00 p.m. and arrived to pick her up around 3:30 p.m.

[9] Mr. Rowe stated that when he was leaving the daycare N. arrived and said his mother asked him to pick up A.. Mr. Rowe did not describe an altercation. His evidence was that N. just held his arm above the elbow. The daycare called Ms. Huntley and she apparently told the daycare to allow N. to take the daughter. The daycare gave the daughter to Mr. Rowe.

[10] The second circumstance happened on the evening of Thursday, May 25^th^. Ms. Huntley called several times on Thursday afternoon and evening asking where A. was. She threatened to call the police if he did not bring her home. Mr. Rowe ignored many of the calls. An arrangement was finally made that he would return her at 10 p.m. that evening. Mr. Rowe decided to take A. to Ms. Huntley before he started his night job. Two of Ms. Huntley’s friends, Diana Castillo and her husband, Raphael (Ricardo) Stamp, own a restaurant called Jamaica Stamp where it was decided that Mr. Rowe would deliver A. to Ms. Huntley.

[11] Mr. Rowe testified, and Ms. Huntley did not disagree, that as soon as Mr. Rowe arrived at the restaurant Ms. Huntley came out and began shouting Jamaican vulgar slang to him calling him a “pussyhole” and saying he should go “suck his mother”. Mr. Rowe did not respond. He just got into his vehicle and drove away.

[12] The next circumstance occurred on Friday, May 26^th^. Mr. Rowe testified he went to his night job. When he finished that job on the morning of May 26^th^, he went home and showered and went to his construction job in Mississauga. He left that job at 1:15 p.m. and went to the daycare to pick up A. without incident. The arrangement was for Mr. Rowe to drop A. off with Ms. Huntley at 10 p.m. on Friday night. Mr. Rowe testified he kept calling Ms. Huntley throughout the day about dropping the daughter off. She did not answer any of his calls. When Mr. Rowe finally spoke to Ms. Huntley on Friday night, she told him to deliver A. home at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 27^th^,

[13] It is Mr. Rowe’s evidence that he called Ms. Huntley several times on his way to drop A. off and she did not answer his calls. He called her throughout the day and she never responded to him that day. He then took her over to his friend Clayton (Andre) Green’s and his wife’s home who have a daughter close in age to A.. Mr. Rowe is the godfather to Mr. Green’s daughter. Then Mr. Rowe, Mr. Green and A. went to a mall where they remained until the evening.

[14] The next circumstance happened on Saturday evening, May 27^th^. As Mr. Rowe, Mr. Green and A. were walking around the mall, A. began bending and holding her stomach. He decided to take her to the hospital. He dropped Mr. Green off and went to the hospital. Mr. Rowe sent Ms. Huntley a text message to tell her he had taken A. to the hospital. She did not respond so he called his father and asked him to call Ms. Huntley. He needed A.’s health card. Ms. Huntley never went to the hospital and never produced the health card.

[15] Ms. Huntley’s evidence was that she was not concerned about her daughter’s condition because she believed she was having a problem with constipation which she had in the past. She felt for that reason she did not have to go to the hospital. She did admit she did not check to find out what A. was suffering from.

[16] Mr. Rowe left the hospital at about 2:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 27^th^, and dropped A. off at Mr. Green’s so his wife could babysit her. Mr. Rowe had to work in the after-hours at DJ jobs in Oshawa and at Twilight nightclub. He went home to pick up his DJ equipment and he and Mr. Green went to Twilight where they arrived at about 5:00 a.m.

At the Twilight Nightclub

Ms. Huntley’s and Ms. Castillo’s Evidence

[17] Ms. Castillo and Ms. Huntley testified for the Crown about the assault. Ms. Castillo was under subpoena and admitted she did not want to testify. She acted quite frustrated from the witness stand. She pointed out she was no longer a friend to Ms. Huntley.

[18] Earlier in the month, Ms. Huntley and some friends had made plans to go out partying at Twilight to celebrate Ms. Castillo’s birthday. She said her plan was to have N. babysit A.. Twilight is located on Nugget Ave. in Scarborough. Ms. Huntley was to join Ms. Castillo, her husband, Ricardo, and friends Anne Marie and Rushelle. Rushelle drove Ms. Huntley to the club. They arrived at Twilight around 1:00 a.m. and remained there for about four or five hours.

[19] There are inconsistencies in the evidence about how much Ms. Huntley drank at the club. Ms. Huntley had made Jello shots to take to the bar. She said she tested one before she went to the club. She stated that she did not recall what she was drinking at the club but said she did not drink much. In describing her state, she said she was “aware”. She said she did not have bottle service that night. She denied drinking most of the Jello shots.

[20] Ms. Castillo, on the other hand, said that there was bottle service of Grey Goose vodka and Hennessy cognac at their table. She admitted she was quite intoxicated when they left the bar. She also said Ms. Huntley was intoxicated. Her evidence diverged somewhat from the preliminary inquiry to trial as to how many Jello shots Ms. Huntley had. At the preliminary inquiry she said Ms. Huntley drank most of them. At trial she said she did not recall how many Jello shots Ms. Huntley drank but agreed that her testimony at the preliminary inquiry would be more accurate.

[21] Ms. Castillo and Ricardo were going to drive Ms. Huntley home. Ms. Huntley testified Rushelle left earlier but Ms. Castillo contradicted that evidence to say Rushelle was actually present during the assault. I find that not much turns on that inconsistency.

[22] Ms. Huntley and her friends exited the club through the side door on the north side of Nugget Ave. when one of her friends spotted Mr. Rowe’s Land Rover and exclaimed that her “baby father” was in the parking lot.

[23] Ms. Huntley said she was on her way to Ms. Castillo’s car to go home. She said she passed the Land Rover asking Mr. Rowe where her daughter is. Anne Marie and Ms. Castillo remained at Mr. Rowe’s vehicle to speak to him, Ms. Castillo on the passenger side and Anne Marie on the driver’s side.

[24] Ms. Huntley asked him again where her daughter is. The second time he responded, “Now you care about your daughter?” Ms. Huntley admitted she called him a “pussyhole”, she said, because she did not know where her daughter was. She admitted that is bad, strong language. She said Mr. Rowe was quite angry when she called him that. She said she saw Mr. Rowe trying to push himself out of his vehicle and Anne Marie and Ms. Castillo pushing him back into the vehicle.

[25] Ms. Huntley said she saw him drive his vehicle at her and her friends and saw Anne Marie drop to the ground. Ms. Huntley testified she ran across the street to the north side of Nugget Ave. because he was driving his vehicle toward her. Ms. Castillo confirmed Ms. Huntley’s evidence about Mr. Rowe driving his car toward Ms. Huntley after she called him a pussyhole and that Ms. Huntley ran across to the north side of Nugget Ave.

[26] Ms. Huntley gave a statement to the police on the day of the incident. Ms. Castillo did not provide a statement until March 2018. She said the police did not contact her for several months. The preliminary inquiry was held one week after she spoke to the police. Ms. Castillo was still friends with Ms. Huntley when she spoke to the police. Ms. Castillo acknowledged that she spoke quite often to Ms. Huntley about what happened at Twilight.

[27] Defence counsel suggested to Ms. Castillo that she drank a lot at Twilight and it was difficult for her to recall the details of the incident. She further suggested that she got the details she told the police from her conversations with Ms. Huntley. Ms. Castillo flatly denied that suggestion insisting that everything she told the police in March 2018 came from herself.

[28] Defence counsel put to Ms. Castillo that there were a few things she said in her police statement that she changed when she testified at the preliminary inquiry. She suggested to Ms. Castillo that she changed certain details like how many Jello shots Ms. Huntley drank and whether Ms. Huntley just walked by Mr. Rowe’s vehicle when she and the other friends left the club or whether Ms. Huntley stopped at the driver’s side of the car. The suggestion is that Ms. Castillo changed her view of the facts at the preliminary inquiry and trial as a result of conversations with Ms. Huntley. Ms. Castillo admitted that she realized after speaking to Ms. Huntley that she might have been mistaken about details.

[29] Defence counsel put to Ms. Castillo Mr. Rowe’s scenario about her grabbing him from behind and putting him in a headlock. She flatly denied that saying, “If I had grabbed him, I’d be dead right now because he had a weapon.” She said however that she did not actually see the weapon.

[30] Ms. Castillo said she went to help Ms. Huntley because no one else would help because, in Ms. Castillo's view, no one liked Ms. Huntley. She testified that no one would care if Mr. Rowe sliced her. She strongly disagreed with the scenario that another man took out a knife, took a swipe at Mr. Rowe, missed and cut Ms. Huntley by accident.

[31] Contrary to Mr. Rowe’s and Mr. Green’s evidence below Ms. Castillo testified Mr. Rowe did not return to his vehicle alone. She said that she had her arm around his shoulder and walked him all the way to his car. She denied her husband Ricardo tried to stop Mr. Rowe from leaving.

Mr. Rowe’s Evidence

[32] Mr. Rowe testified when he arrived at Twilight he dropped Mr. Green at the entrance. He had difficulty parking his vehicle because the lot was full. He ended up parking on the east side of the club behind another vehicle blocking it. He went into the club, bought a stout for himself and Mr. Green and went to the washroom. When he returned to the bar, he heard an announcement about his vehicle blocking another vehicle. He left Mr. Green inside the bar and went outside.

[33] This is where he encountered Ms. Huntley and her friends as they left the club. Mr. Rowe’s version of what happened differs from that of Ms. Huntley and Ms. Castillo.

[34] When Mr. Rowe reached his vehicle, he found it was blocked by a food truck. He saw many people in the parking lot. While he was waiting to move, he bought some chicken from the truck. He sat in his vehicle eating the food. He said he then saw four people walk up to his truck. He said three approached the driver’s side and one of them, the passenger’s side. He said he thought it was Rushelle on the passenger’s side, the person Ms. Huntley and Ms. Castillo said left the club earlier. He said he believed Anne Marie was one of the three on the driver’s side and Ms. Castillo and Ms. Huntley were the other two.

[35] Mr. Rowe said Ms. Huntley came to the driver’s side window and yelled, “Pussyhole, where is my daughter!”. He said he did not respond but he heard Ms. Castillo say, “You can’t disrespect your baby father like that”. He said Ms. Huntley then walked off toward the north side of Nugget Ave. and then, according to Mr. Rowe, she walked back toward him and again called him a pussyhole and other vulgar things. Ms. Castillo told Ms. Huntley to go away and leave Mr. Rowe alone. Rushelle and Ms. Castillo prevented Ms. Huntley from getting too close to Mr. Rowe.

[36] Mr. Rowe said he opened the driver’s door to his vehicle and put one leg out to brush pieces of the food he was eating off of his lap. When he did this, he said his cellphone fell to the ground. He said Anne Marie picked the cellphone up and went across to the north side of the street where Ms. Huntley and Rushelle were.

[37] Ms. Huntley testified that someone gave her a cellphone that evening. Ms. Castillo said she recalled something about the cellphone. She recalled that she or someone else had picked up the cellphone and gave it to Ms. Huntley. Ms. Castillo recalled that Ms. Huntley had told her previously that Mr. Rowe had stolen her cellphone. When Ms. Huntley saw the cellphone, she said it looked like hers and she took it home.

[38] Contrary to Ms. Huntley’s and Ms. Castillo’s evidence that Mr. Rowe drove his car at Ms. Huntley, he testified when he was able to free his vehicle, he just parked his vehicle in front of the club on the south side of the street. He said Ricardo and some other men were standing near his vehicle when he opened his car door. He saw many people crossing the street to the north side. He saw Ms. Castillo making her way to the north side of the street.

The Assault on the North Side of Nugget Ave.

Ms. Huntley’s and Mr. Castillo’s Evidence

[39] Both Ms. Huntley and Ms. Castillo testified the attack happened very quickly. She said after she reached across the street suddenly her head was in the air. She said she knew Mr. Rowe was behind her and had lifted her head up in the air. She testified she put her head down because she thought he was going to cut her neck.

[40] Ms. Huntley said she knew it was Mr. Rowe because she had seen him run across the street and then grab her from behind. She testified her head was bent back exposing her neck. He had her in a headlock with his arm. She said everyone was yelling at him to let her go.

[41] Ms. Huntley testified that she then felt something on the right side of her face under her nose and on the right side of her right eye down toward her cheek, down though her right upper lip. She said she felt a burning sensation under her nose. She said people told her she had gotten cut. Ms. Huntley said she did not think it was that serious and she just wanted to go home. She covered her face with her scarf.

[42] Ms. Castillo’s evidence about the attack is similar. She said she was on the south side of Nugget Ave. She said everyone was moving to the north side of the street. She testified she saw Mr. Rowe holding Ms. Huntley from behind in a chokehold. Ms. Castillo said when she saw this, she ran across the street and pulled him off of Ms. Huntley and told him, “Let’s go. You are going to get yourself in trouble.” She said she believed her husband Ricardo was near his vehicle and said something to Mr. Rowe about cutting Ms. Huntley. Then Mr. Rowe drove off.

Mr. Rowe’s Evidence

[43] Mr. Rowe presented quite a different picture of what happened during the altercation on the north side of the street. He said after he parked his vehicle his intention was to cross the street to get his cellphone back. He said he left his car door open because he did not plan to be long because he was parked on the wrong side of the street. He first said after he opened his car door, he ran from his vehicle to get his cellphone. He then altered that to say he was looking to see where Ms. Castillo was when she was moving to the north side and he just walked over to join her.

[44] Mr. Rowe testified that when he reached the north side of the street, he walked toward Ms. Castillo to ask her who picked up his cellphone. He then saw the person, he believed it was Anne Marie, who picked up the cellphone about 25 to 30 feet from him. Mr. Rowe said he did not reach Anne Marie.

[45] Mr. Rowe’s evidence is that just as he was walking in Anne Marie’s direction, he felt Ms. Castillo, who is taller than him, put her arm around his neck as if to "hug him on the neck" and he heard her laughing. Mr. Rowe said he then told her he was going to get his cellphone and he would get back with her after he did that. He said Ms. Castillo was laughing and told him not to worry that she would go get the cellphone for him.

[46] Mr. Rowe said he then felt Ms. Castillo had put him in a “necklock”. He said he next felt a punch to his stomach. He then received other punches to his ribs and face. He said he was shocked and was trying to get out of the headlock. Everything happened so fast, he said, so he never saw who attacked him. Mr. Rowe said as he was being punched and was being held in a headlock, he saw a man from the crowd pull out a "buck knife". That man came over and pushed the first male aside. He thought he was going to be cut in the face. He saw the second male raise his knife-clad hand over his head and bring the knife down toward Mr. Rowe's face.

[47] Mr. Rowe testified that as the second male was about to cut him, a third person jumped in the middle of the altercation. He did not know who that person was but he heard a person say, “Don’t cut him. Don’t cut him.” He said it was a male voice that spoke those words, not a female. Mr. Rowe said he did not get cut. He backed up very hard and he and Ms. Castillo fell to the ground. He said he did not see anyone get cut. He said he did not know either of his attackers.

[48] Mr. Rowe said he did not find out Ms. Huntley got cut until he was arrested at the police station days later. Contrary to Ms. Castillo's evidence, Mr. Rowe said after the attack he was then able to get free and went to his vehicle alone. He testified that when he reached his vehicle Ricardo was standing there and tried to stop him from getting in complaining to Mr. Rowe that he had caused his baby mother (Ms. Castillo) to fall to the ground.

[49] Mr. Rowe testified Ms. Castillo told her husband to let him go. Mr. Rowe said he then got into his vehicle and drove directly to Mr. Green’s home where he had left his daughter. He stood outside the home and Mr. Green arrived 20 to 30 minutes later.

Mr. Green’s Evidence

[50] Mr. Green is a friend of Mr. Rowe and Mr. Rowe’s father. He is a long-time friend of the father from when they lived in Jamaica.

[51] Mr. Green confirmed Mr. Rowe’s evidence about going to Twilight together and Mr. Rowe having difficulty parking and being called out of the club because his car was blocking another vehicle.

[52] Mr. Green testified that after Mr. Rowe left the club to attend to his car, he remained in the bar for about 20 to 25 minutes. He wondered why Mr. Rowe had not returned so he went outside to see what was happening. He walked out the south side exit of the club and walked along the parking lot. He spotted Mr. Rowe’s vehicle parked on the south side of Nugget Ave. with the driver’s side door open and Mr. Rowe was not in the car. Mr. Green said he saw a crowd of about nine males and females on the north side of the road. He saw one man he did know standing near Mr. Rowe’s car.

[53] From the south side of the street he could hear someone say, “He got cut.” He could see a female he could not identify, taller than the man, with her arm around the man’s neck. He did not recognize the woman at the time. The crowd was pushing toward the man with the arm around his neck. Mr. Green said he saw a knife in the crowd in the hand of a man he had never seen before. Mr. Green said the man was a big guy who held the knife above his head. He then realized as the man was pushed from the crowd that the man with the arm around his neck was Mr. Rowe. Mr. Rowe fell down and then got up and ran to his car.

[54] Mr. Green testified he stayed far from the crowd on the north side especially after he saw what he thought was a man rush toward Mr. Rowe with a knife. He said he stayed away because he did not know what was happening. He said he recognized Ms. Huntley in the crowd. He said everyone was yelling and talking and he did not see anyone get injured. He said Mr. Rowe was alone when he ran across the street and got into his car.

[55] Mr. Green said he took a taxi home. Mr. Rowe was standing outside his home when he arrived. He asked Mr. Rowe what happened and he said some people jumped him.

ANALYSIS

[56] This is a purely credibility and reliability case. None of the witnesses were perfect witnesses. There was alcohol involved with the Crown’s two witnesses. Mr. Rowe’s only witness was a close friend. The incident people were trying to recount happened over two-and-a-half years ago. This state of affairs always creates a challenge for triers of fact evaluating which witnesses’ evidence they accept as true and reliable.

[57] On my review of the totality of the evidence, I find that I accept the evidence of the Crown’s witnesses that Mr. Rowe was the person who cut Ms. Huntley with a knife leaving her with a gash on her face that required 46 stitches.

[58] The defence evidence that a big unknown man emerged mysteriously from the crowd of people and cut Ms. Huntley by accident in his endeavour to cut Mr. Rowe, does not raise a reasonable doubt in my mind about Mr. Rowe’s guilt. Nothing in the evidence gives me a reasonable doubt.

[59] I believe the evidence strongly supports the view that Mr. Rowe had strong motivation to harm Ms. Huntley and did harm Ms. Huntley.

[60] Ms. Huntley and Mr. Rowe had an extremely acrimonious relationship from the time CAS took the children into care, throughout the period after their marriage broke down, right up to just hours before Ms. Huntley was cut. For three solid days before the early morning hours of May 28^th^, 2017 Ms. Huntley and Mr. Rowe had constant battles over pick-ups and drop-offs of their daughter A..

[61] Mr. Rowe left his job early to pick A. up on May 25^th^ at Ms. Huntley’s request, because it was raining. He travelled all the way from Mississauga to the daycare only to find that N. was asked by Ms. Huntley to pick her up. He was able to take A. that day but not until after an altercation with N. and a threat by Ms. Huntley to call the police on him.

[62] Mr. Rowe called Ms. Huntley that day about dropping off A. and Ms. Huntley did not answer his calls. Ms. Huntley does not deny this. Eventually it was arranged that Mr. Rowe drop A. off at Ms. Castillo's restaurant at 10:00 p.m. When he arrived, he was met with searing and degrading insults by Ms. Huntley in front of her friends in a public space, insults agreed to be serious affronts to men from Jamaica. Mr. Rowe just walked away and left for his night job.

[63] On the next day, May 26^th^, Mr. Rowe also left his Mississauga job and picked up A. at the daycare. He was supposed to drop her off with Ms. Huntley at 10 p.m. that night. Mr. Rowe called her all day attempting to arrange the drop off. She answered none of his calls. Ms. Huntley does not deny this. The arrangement was finally made for him to drop her off at 10:00 a.m. on May 27^th^. Mr. Rowe called to drop A. off and Ms. Huntley did not answer his calls and she ignored his calls throughout the day on May 27^th^. Ms. Huntley did not deny this.

[64] Mr. Rowe went with A. to Mr. Green’s house and then took Mr. Green and A. to a mall where A. got sick. He drove her to the hospital and called Ms. Huntley who again ignored his calls. When he finally spoke to her she refused to go to the hospital. She refused to take her daughter’s health card to the hospital. She did not take an interest in what was actually wrong with A.. Ms. Huntley did not deny this. She had plans to go out to celebrate a birthday. Nothing was going to stand in the way of that plan.

[65] Mr. Rowe had two DJ jobs that evening, one in Oshawa and the other at Twilight. Because he was at the hospital until 2:30 a.m. on May 28^th^, he missed the Oshawa job and of course the pay he would have earned.

[66] Mr. Rowe arrived at Twilight only to be frustrated by a parking problem. He also ended up missing the job at Twilight because of what transpired. When he went back to clear up the parking problem, he was met with another onslaught of very loud Jamaican insults. He said there were many people in the parking lot besides Ms. Huntley's friends. After walking away Ms. Huntley returned to where Mr. Rowe was parked and continued her barrage of loud insults.

[67] It would be extra-human for Mr. Rowe not to be humiliated and very angry after what he endured outside Twilight. This is particularly the case as the Twilight experience followed immediately upon three days of constant disrespect for his time, his plans and livelihood, Ms. Huntley’s repeated disregard for her obligations as a co-parent and a previous incident of humiliation in another public place.

[68] I have considered the inconsistencies with Ms. Huntley’s and Ms. Castillo’s evidence. There were some inconsistencies between their evidence and within Ms. Castillo’s evidence about how much alcohol Ms. Huntley drank and about whether Ms. Huntley went over to Mr. Rowe’s vehicle when they left the club. I find these discrepancies do not have a meaningful impact on the evidence that I find credible and reliable in the totality of their evidence.

[69] It is not controversial that minor details may not be recalled when a person is under the influence of alcohol especially where a passage of time is involved. But unless someone is totally incapacitated it is often the case that people will recall shocking and traumatic experiences. I classify the attack on Ms. Huntley to be such an experience.

[70] I found Ms. Huntley’s and Ms. Castillo’s evidence consistent in the critical areas. Ms. Huntley saw Mr. Rowe come across the street towards her. The next thing she knew is Mr. Rowe came up behind her and put her in a headlock. She felt a burning sensation under her nose and something move across the right side of her face. From across the street Ms. Castillo saw Mr. Rowe come up behind Ms. Huntley and put her in a chokehold. She went over and pulled him off of Ms. Huntley and walked him across the street to his car.

[71] I do not find either of the witnesses exaggerated. Neither of them said they saw the knife when they might have said that to make their evidence appear more solid. Ms. Castillo was no longer a friend of Ms. Huntley at the time of trial and she testified under protest. But she maintained evidence that was essentially consistent with what she told the police and testified to at the preliminary inquiry. I find their evidence together persuades me beyond a reasonable doubt that it was Mr. Rowe who slashed Ms. Huntley in the face.

[72] I find Mr. Rowe had the motivation and the opportunity to attack Ms. Huntley. The cellphone was a secondary preoccupation. I believe Mr. Rowe was very angry. He had ample reason to be. He drove his vehicle quickly from the parking lot to the front of the club. In doing so, he either purposely drove it toward Ms. Huntley, or she and Ms. Castillo perceived that to be the case. In any event, I find he quickly parked on the wrong side of the road, hastily got out of his car, leaving the door open and ran across the street towards Ms. Huntley.

[73] Mr. Rowe admitted that in his construction work he uses box cutters for roofing and that he keeps box cutters among his tools in his car. Whatever he used, he raced toward Ms. Huntley and viciously cut her in the face. He then crossed the street to his car and drove off leaving Mr. Green behind.

[74] In my estimation, Mr. Rowe’s evidence was nothing more than a colourful fabrication advanced to escape blame for a rash and brutal act.

[75] There is a factual foundation for the Crown’s view. There is no sound foundation for the defence theory that an unknown man pushed through the crowd to attack Mr. Rowe and accidently cut Ms. Huntley. Mr. Green is a close friend to Mr. Rowe and his father. Mr. Rowe is the godfather for Mr. Green’s daughter. Perhaps, Mr. Green fabricated evidence to help his friend. Or, maybe because he was some distance from the attack in the dark of early morning, he just believed he saw a stranger with a knife and not his good friend.

[76] There is no question that Ms. Huntley’s injury, which required 46 stitches, meets the requirement of a wound for the purposes of s. 268(1) of the Criminal Code and that for the purposes of ss. 267(a) and 88(1) the instrument Mr. Rowe used in the assault was a knife.

VERDICT

[77] I find Aldwayne Rowe guilty on count 1 (aggravated assault), count 2 (assault with a weapon) and count 3 (possession of a weapon) and convictions will be registered accordingly.

B.A. Allen J

Released: December 6, 2019

COURT FILE NO.: CR-18-30000460-0000

DATE: 20191206

ONTARIO

SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE

HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN

– and –

ALDWAYNE ROWE

Accused

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT

B.A. Allen J.

Released: December 6, 2019

R. v. Rowe, 2019 ONSC 7091

Case Summary

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT

BACKGROUND

THE EVIDENCE

Lead Up to the Assault Incident

At the Twilight Nightclub

Ms. Huntley’s and Ms. Castillo’s Evidence

Mr. Rowe’s Evidence

The Assault on the North Side of Nugget Ave.

Ms. Huntley’s and Mr. Castillo’s Evidence

Mr. Rowe’s Evidence

Mr. Green’s Evidence

ANALYSIS

VERDICT

Judge

Counsel

Parties

Areas of Law

Fact Patterns

Issues