Jury trial begins for Summerland man accused in violent attack of Penticton doctor

The jury trial for 34-year-old Gregory Nield began in B.C. Supreme Court in Penticton today.

Nield is accused of violently beating Dr.Rajeev Sheoran in the inpatient psychiatric unit at the Penticton Regional Hospital in December 2014.

In her opening remarks to the jury, prosecutor Sarah Firestone said Nield met privately with Dr.Sheoran in an interviewing room when nurses said they heard loud banging.

The crown said Nield emerged caressing his swollen hand and said “I think he’s dead.”

The crown said nurses then rushed to the aid of the doctor who was slumped over in his chair and was suffering from severe facial injuries.

The crown told the court it is a “textbook example of a circumstantial case.”

But the crown also told the jury “there is only one possible conclusion, there is no reasonable doubt Gregory Nield assaulted Dr.Rajeev Sheoran wounding him and disfiguring him contrary to the Criminal Code of Canada.”

First to take the stand was psychiatric nurse Nicole Reichenbach who was on the ward at the time of the alleged attack.

She told the jury the doctor was “bleeding profusely” from his face.

Reichenbach said that a code white and a code blue was called meaning an all hands on deck response to an emergency in the hospital.

Court heard Nield was an involuntary patient certified under the mental health act.

Nield was diagnosed with a drug-induced psychosis from consuming magic mushrooms he said he used to fight severe migraines.

Under cross-examination of Reichenbach by defence counsel, the jury heard Nield repeatedly told staff “I don’t need to be here, I don’t think anything is wrong with me” prior to the alleged assault.

Court heard Nield had no previous mental health issues and had never previously been hospitalized for mental illness.

The trial is scheduled for 10 days