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Penticton beach attack suspect facing new charges, back in custody

Thomas Kruger-Allen, 21, is facing seven new charges in an incident that occurred on October 19 in Penticton, B.C. Global News

The young man accused in a one-punch attack on an Okanagan Lake beach that left another man in a medically induced coma is back in custody.

Thomas Kruger-Allen, 21, is facing seven new charges in an incident that occurred on October 19 in Penticton, B.C.

The charges include two counts of assault causing bodily harm, break and enter, mischief, uttering threats and two counts of breach of recognizance.

On Wednesday, police told Global News that Kruger-Allen was arrested on Oct. 19 for breaking and entering and assaulting two individuals, a male and a female, both of whom were known to him.

Police say the victims suffered serious, non-life threatening injuries.

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Click to play video: 'Penticton beach assault victim awakes from coma'
Penticton beach assault victim awakes from coma

Kruger-Allen was out on bail at the time of the alleged crimes, awaiting trial in the beach attack that occurred in May.

Brad Eliason says he was intervening in an altercation between Kruger-Allen and some other people on the beach when he was punched in the face.

He fell back and smashed his head on the concrete. Eliason was rushed to hospital and underwent emergency brain surgery.

“He had some brain swelling. They needed to open the skull up to relieve the pressure,” Bradley Eliason’s wife, Chelsea Townend, told Global News shortly after the incident.

Eliason required 56 stitches to his skull and was placed in a medically induced coma, which he awoke from in late May.

Click to play video: 'Beach attack victim awakes from coma and speaks'
Beach attack victim awakes from coma and speaks

Kruger-Allen is accused in the aggravated assault of Eliason. He is facing two additional counts of assault and one count of sexual assault involving other alleged victims in the beach attack.

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A preliminary hearing in that case is scheduled for January 20, 2020. His lawyer, James Pennington, said a trial is expected to get underway next summer.

On November 6, a judge will hear an application to revoke his bail. Pennington said if his client’s bail is revoked, the trial could take place sooner.

Kruger-Allen has elected trial by judge alone.

Click to play video: 'Coalmont man found guilty in 2015 phone booth attack'
Coalmont man found guilty in 2015 phone booth attack

In a third incident, Kruger-Allen was sentenced in July to a four-month conditional sentence, followed by 18 months of probation, for his role in a 2017 swarming attack outside the now-shuttered Mule nightclub.

He was originally charged with aggravated assault, but pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of assault causing bodily harm.

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