The assault causing bodily harm trial for off-duty Toronto police Const. Calvin Au began in a Brampton, Ont., courtroom Monday.
The judge-alone trial started with a brief opening statement from Crown attorney Catherine Weiler, who told Superior Court Justice Jennifer Woolcoombe that there was an altercation between Au and Chadd Facey. Facey was tackled to the ground, which caused bodily harm.
According to an agreed statement of facts, Facey advertised an Apple Watch on Kijiji for $500. Const. Gurmakh Benning, who was a friend of Au’s, responded to the ad and over the next several days negotiated with Facey a price of $400 for the Apple Watch.
They arranged to meet in the parking lot of Beryl Ford Public School on April 26, 2021. Benning and Au travelled to 45 Ironshield Dr. in Benning’s vehicle and when they arrived, Benning handed Facey $400 in cash for what he believed was an Apple Watch. Facey gave him a watch and left. The watch that Facey sold to Benning was a fake. It was then that the interaction took place.
Later that afternoon, a bump was detected on Facey’s forehead and the 19-year-old died at Brampton Civic Hospital that night. According to the facts, “the crown is not in a position to allege that Facey’s death was caused by the interaction with Au.”
The Special Investigations Unit originally charged Au with manslaughter and aggravated assault in February 2013 but earlier this month, those charges were downgraded to a single count of assault causing bodily harm after the Crown found there was no reasonable prospect of a conviction. Au is out on bail and remains suspended with pay.
On the stand Monday, Facey’s best friend Isaac Nkrumah testified that on the day of the incident, he, Facey and another friend were smoking weed and tobacco outside Facey’s house. Nkrumah said Facey came out of his house with a bag in his hands and said he had to go deal with something and they agreed to drop Facey off near Beryl Ford Public School. Nkrumah said there was a grey vehicle in the parking lot where they dropped him off and noticed two individuals but said he didn’t know what it was about.
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Nkrumah said a few minutes later, he got a call from Facey to come get him right away.
“He sounded like he was jogging and out of breath,” Nkrumah said.
When they arrived, he noticed Facey lying down on the ground and two individuals standing there.
“I put his arm around my shoulder. He was injured. He was limping and he was out of breath,” Nkrumah said, adding that Facey gave no explanation for what had happened.
They went back to the other friend’s house on Facey’s suggestion before taking him home because Nkrumah testified “he seemed like he wasn’t getting any better.” He said they then drove him home, where Facey’s father noticed a knot on his head, which he hadn’t noticed before.
During cross-examination, Au’s lawyer Peter Brauti suggested that Nkrumah knew exactly what was happening that day.
“You knew you were driving Mr. Facey to an Apple Watch ripoff, do you agree?
Nkrumah disagreed.
Brauti also suggested that he pointed his hands like a gun and went down his waistband to make the men think he had a gun to scare them away. Nkrumah denied it.
Brauti suggested that all three men were in on the ripoff and Facey didn’t return home sooner because he didn’t want his parents to find out.
Facey’s older sister was also a witness for the Crown and spoke about her brother arriving home with Nkrumah and the other friend. Facey was sitting in the front passenger seat of his friend’s car.
“He was in and out of consciousness. He had dry saliva on his face. His eyes were rolling. He kept repeating, ‘I can’t feel my legs,’ and he said he was cold,” Renae Facey told the court.
Facey’s sister said her mother called 911 while she stayed with her brother.
“The communication was very limited. When they pulled him out of the vehicle, he made a loud screaming noise. We noticed a hematoma the size of a quarter on his forehead.”
Au has pleaded not guilty to assault causing bodily harm. The trial continues.
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