BY KEITH LACEY
A 28-year-old father testified his friend Phil Boudreault left a Valley East pizza restaurant before a fight broke out last March.
 |
Boudreault |
Richard Leeson, 28, then admitted he was the man who punched and kicked a father and son during a bar fight.
Boudreault, an amateur boxer who represented Canada at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, has pleaded not guilty to one count of assault and
one count of aggravated assault in relation to a bar fight at a Valley East pizza joint March 3.
It?s alleged Boudreault, who admits to being a member of the Sudbury chapter of the Hells Angels motorcycle club, was the man responsible for punching and knocking out Jeff Lavallee, 26, and then punching and kicking Lavallee?s father Donald, 51. Donald Lavallee suffered a shattered jaw during the incident.
Following final submissions by defence lawyer Glenn Sandberg and assistant Crown attorney Len Walker Friday afternoon, Justice Ian Gordon told the court he wanted time to consider all the evidence and submissions and would render his decision Jan. 21.
Leeson, who is serving time on a drug trafficking charge, testified he and Boudreault had visited the pizza joint on a couple of occasions in between working on a vehicle the day in question.
Boudreault left ?around 10 or 11 and never came back,? said Leeson.
Leeson said his brother got into a verbal argument with Jeff Lavallee over who should be playing at the pool table around midnight.
Lavallee was staring down his brother and he knew trouble was about to break out, so he got involved and ended up punching Lavallee in the face, knocking him to the ground, Leeson testified. An older man he didn?t know was Lavallee?s father came on the scene and grabbed him by the shirt and he started throwing several punches to defend himself.
The older man fell backwards and Leeson admitted to landing several kicks while he was on the ground. Two guys he didn?t recognize grabbed the older man and dragged him outside .
Under cross-examination by Walker, Leeson said he told a private investigator hired by the defence soon after the incident that he was the man responsible for the two assaults.
When Walker asked him why he didn?t come forward knowing Boudreault had been arrested and was serving time for a crime he didn?t commit, Leeson said he has a wife and child and ?a lot to lose? so he waited until trial to tell the truth.
Walker then asked Leeson about why he was in jail at the present time. Leeson admitted he is serving a 17-month sentence, that expires in February, for possessing for the purpose of trafficking 270 grams of cocaine. Leeson was arrested May 15.
When Walker suggested the cocaine belonged to Boudreault and his friends, Leeson stated emphatically ?it belonged to me.? When Walker suggested Leeson has come forward because the cocaine confiscated by police won?t be returned and he owes Boudreault a favour, Leeson again denied it.
?That?s a good story, but that?s totally not the case,? he said.
Boudreault has no criminal record of any kind related to selling drugs and he doesn?t deal drugs, said Leeson.
When Walker suggested Leeson is too tall and doesn?t meet the physical description provided by other witnesses, Leeson said those witnesses
?must be mistaken? because he was responsible for the assaults.
