After shooting a German tourist in the head in what might have been a case of mistaken identity, the 16-year-old shooter yelled “we caught a body,” one witness said during his testimony at the boy’s trial.
After shooting a German tourist in the head in what might have been a case of mistaken identity, the 16-year-old shooter yelled “we caught a body,” one witness said during his testimony at the boy’s trial.
A 17-year-old boy is on trial, facing charges of aggravated assault, assault, and three firearms-related offences. His identity is protected by a publication ban under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
Horst Stewin, 61, is paralyzed on his right side and still has trouble speaking after eight bullet fragments were removed from his brain last summer, 20 days after he was shot while driving on Highway 1A west of Calgary.
“His prognosis for a full recovery is guarded at best,” Crown prosecutor Dane Rolfe said in laying out an agreed statement of facts at the beginning of teen’s trial Monday morning.
Stewin has had to learn to write with his left hand, is often confused and has memory issues, according to Rolfe. The prosecutor also said the victim has trouble speaking and is in physical therapy three times a week.
Several months ago, a charge of attempted murder was dropped by the Crown after prosecutors decided there was no reasonable likelihood of conviction.
‘I just shut my eyes’
The Crown’s first witness was a young woman who lives in the Morley, Alta., First Nations settlement, about 60 kilometres west of Calgary. She said she was in the car on Aug. 2, 2018, when the teen shot the tourist.
CBC News is calling witness L, because of the risk naming her could identify the accused.
Based on cross-examination questions from defence lawyer Balfour Der, the driver of the car carrying young people from the Morley community believed the person in the black SUV was a man who had attacked his brother.
“I was scared, I didn’t know what to do,” said L, who testified she was in the back seat of the vehicle as it drove west on Highway 1A on Aug. 2, 2018.
She said the driver ordered the teen to shoot, and he “did it.”
“I just shut my eyes and covered myself,” said L. “Would you want to see someone shooting somebody?” she asked the prosecutor.
The driver of the car also testified, telling the judge the boy shot Stewin. “He was telling us “we caught a body, we caught a body “
Stewin, his wife, his son and his son’s girlfriend were in Canada celebrating his 60th birthday.
The family had stopped to take photos near the Morley rodeo grounds, about 55 kilometres west of Calgary. As they pulled back onto Highway 1A, their black SUV was overtaken by another vehicle.
As the car pulled up beside the family, Stewin — who was driving — was shot once in the head, causing him to veer off into a ditch and crash into a tree.
Stewin was airlifted to hospital but the bullet could not be safely removed from his head.
After a two-week stay, the victim was flown back to Germany, where doctors successfully removed the fragments.
The accused was arrested on the Stoney Nakoda First Nation west of Calgary about three weeks after the shooting.
Last year, the teen was released on bail but breached his release conditions and was re-arrested.
He is currently in custody
Provincial court Judge George Gaschler is presiding over the seven-day trial.
