The man accused of aggravated assault in an alleged Sep 27 gaybashing in Vancouver’s gay village is denying all allegations made against him in a civil action brought by the victim.
Michael Kandola, 20, is facing one charge of aggravated assault in connection with the incident. He has pleaded not guilty and will face a preliminary hearing in June to see if a trial is warranted.
Jordan Smith, 27, filed the civil suit against Kandola on Oct 9.
In addition to general damages, Smith’s statement of claim filed at the BC Supreme Court in New Westminster seeks “exemplary and punitive damages for outrageous, hateful and discriminatory behaviour towards an unarmed and unaware victim.”
The suit alleges that: “Without warning, without provocation and without cause of any kind, the defendant, Michael Singh Kandola, delivered a powerful blow to the left cheek of the plaintiff, Jordan Madison Smith, causing immediate unconsciousness, multiple fractures of the left (jaw)….” It describes the blow as a “sucker punch.”
Smith was walking along Davie St hand-in-hand with another man when a group of four young men allegedly approached them, according to police.
The suit, filed by Smith’s father Howard Smith, a lawyer, says the South Asian men “jeered, voiced epithets and expletives about homosexuals.”
The statement of claim describes the attack as “cowardly.”
It claims Smith struck his skull on the ground as he fell. Kandola then “with a clenched fist and angry face, bent over the then unconscious plaintiff … and shouted further expletives respecting the sexual orientation of the plaintiff,” Smith’s statement of claim alleges.
The suit further alleges that Smith suffered jaw fractures, bruising and swelling to his head, a soft-tissue neck injury and injury to his foot and ankle.
Kandola’s Nov 5 statement of defence denies all the allegations.
None of the allegations in Smith’s civil suit have been proven in court.
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