A jury has discovered a retailer clerk not responsible of aggravated assault on a robber in Peterborough, Ont., greater than two years in the past.
Following a day of deliberations, the Superior Courtroom jury late Wednesday afternoon delivered the unanimous verdict for 24-year-old Tejeshwar Kalia, who was a world pupil from India on the time of the Jan. 5, 2024 incident.
Surveillance video performed in the course of the weeklong trial confirmed that round 2:30 a.m., a masked man entered a downtown Circle Ok retailer, carrying what was later discovered to be a baseball bat wrapped in a plastic bag, together with a big knife on his hip. He removes the bag, brandishes the bat after which approaches Kalia.
A battle ensues as a buyer additionally tries to intervene.
The video continues because the melee heads outdoors the shop and the clerk beneficial properties management of the bat. The masked man seems to be leaving however Kalia strikes him with the bat after which does so a second time after he falls because the buyer seems to attempt to intervene. Kalia then calls 911.
Police ended up charging each people. Chief Stuart Betts defended the cost laid in opposition to the clerk in response to some public backlash.
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“This isn’t about politics — politics don’t have anything to do with the details. This isn’t about race — as some have urged,” he said. “This isn’t in regards to the notion that criminals go free whereas victims of crime are penalized — that is in regards to the regulation.”
In the course of the trial, jurors heard that Kalia suffered a concussion in the course of the melee.
Courtroom additionally heard that the robber was 37-year-old Jonathan Handel, who suffered extreme head accidents. He was arrested quickly after and later that yr pleaded responsible to theft with violence and was sentenced to 18 months in jail.
The trial centered on whether or not Kalia exceeded his declare of self-defence. Kalia’s lawyer, David O’Neill, centered on the knife, arguing his shopper was conscious of it and couldn’t calmly assess the menace inside a number of frantic seconds whereas injured from the confrontation.
Following the decision, O’Neill stated the incident was one Kalia “had by no means requested for, by no means requested to be concerned in” however that his shopper was “extraordinarily completely happy” with the decision.
“He all the time maintained that he acted in self-defence, he acted when it comes to responding to the menace that was levied in opposition to him,” O’Neill stated. “And he’s all the time impressed upon me that he had religion issues would work out nicely for him and he’s proper, it has. It actually has, so he’s extraordinarily proud of the way in which the jurors dominated right this moment.”
Kalia, who supplied a sufferer influence assertion throughout Handel’s trial in April 2024, thanked the justice system and his supporters.
“I wish to thank all of my associates, my lawyer, my good associates on my aspect,” he stated. “They usually did nicely. And I wish to thank the jury. All these 12 jurors. Thanks for reviewing the video, giving the correct feedback and all of the work you have got executed. I wish to thank them individually many times.”
He says his focus now’s to maneuver on from the ordeal, which he says price him “all his financial savings” in authorized charges.
“I wish to transfer ahead with my future, having plans, getting jobs, getting expertise in Canada, and exploring Canada,” he stated. “I used to be bonded earlier than as a result of this expertise [s0] I couldn’t transfer to different provinces, however now I can.”
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