Family of Mississauga house party assault victim pleads for help

WATCH ABOVE: Welland Calamatta is in critical care with a brain injury after an alleged attack at a house party in Streetsville. His family claims he didn’t know his attacker. Lama Nicolas Reports.

TORONTO – The family of the victim of an allegedly unprovoked assault is speaking out about the violent nature of the incident and asking the public for donations to help pay for his rising medical costs.

Welland Calamatta, 29, was found unconscious with “severe injuries” outside of a party on Brookside Dr. in Mississauga on May 22, according to Peel Regional Police.

Calamatta’s brother Roland said the attack was “a complete misunderstanding” that occurred when Welland was driving to the party at about 2 a.m., when he drove past a pedestrian walking on the street. Friends told Roland that the suspect then allegedly approached Welland “aggressively” outside his friend’s home during a party and attacked him over a claim that he had tried to hit him with his car.

“My brother put his hands up to say ‘I don’t want to fight with you’ and the guy struck him in the temple and knocked him unconscious on his feet, he couldn’t brace himself against the fall, his head hit the concrete like a sack of bricks,” Roland said.

“He was unconscious before he hit the ground, he had no way of bracing himself from the fall. Which is why he’s got the brain injury now.”

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Welland has been recovering in hospital since the night of the incident and his brother said his injuries are extensive and his recovery time is uncertain.

“They took him to Credit Valley, they did a CT Scan, they realized that he needed emergency surgery, they had to cut the left side of his skull open and they had to cauterize all of the damage to the brain,” he said.

“There was bleeding in the brain stem and for the first two or three days we didn’t know if my brother was going to make it. We were already grieving for him and then something miraculous happened, like his will to fight and he’s slowly but surely getting better.”

Welland has slowly been making progress in his recovery, but the rising medical costs for future physiotherapy and 24-hour care are too much for his family.

“He can’t walk, he can’t really move himself, he was 170 lbs when he was admitted here and he’s now at 120 lbs – weak as a kitten,” he said.

“Physiotherapy, occupational therapy, so many things, he’s going to need assistive devices. He’s not going to be walking for quite some time.”

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Roland has started a GoFundMe fundraising campaign and a bank account in his brother’s name and is hoping members of the public will donate to help the family provide the care he needs – but they’re unsure of when, or if, he will fully recover.

“We don’t even know, the doctors can’t tell us anymore than we already know,” he said.

This has been an absolute nightmare for us, my parents have been here every single day on and off and when they can’t be here, we’re here, myself and my wife. Family members are coming and going, we’ve never ever had to deal with anything like this before and we’re just doing the best we can to get through this.”

On May 24, 33-year-old Wayne Junior Anglin, of Mississauga, turned himself into police and he has since been charged with aggravated assault and released on bail.

“I can’t believe they released him on $10,000 bail. I mean, my brother’s here at the hospital suffering and this guy’s walking the streets,” Roland said.

“Who’s to say he doesn’t do this to somebody else?”

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Peel Regional Police Const. George Tudos could not comment directly on the case due to the fact that it is before the courts, but said that aggravated assault is a “very serious charge.”

“I know that investigators have spoken to many witnesses,” he said.

“It was a large party, there was a lot of patrons present at the time so I know they have spoken to several witnesses and obviously if there’s any information out there that hasn’t been disclosed to police we advise that they contact Peel Regional Police and give us some of that information.”

With files from Lama Nicolas