Jared Eliasson will find out Friday if a judge believes he attacked an Edmonton woman with a crowbar in a fit of road rage.
Eliasson is charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, possession of a dangerous weapon and mischief.
On March 7, 2017, before 7 a.m., Chelsey Schendzielorz honked at a driver in a small silver car blocking the intersection. The encounter is captured on her dash camera. Eliasson admits he was the driver in the vehicle that was honked at. He was delivering newspapers at the time.
Schendzielorz travelled a couple of blocks to park in front of her house. As she sat chatting on the phone to her father, a silver car drove up beside her, then backed up and parked behind her vehicle.
She said the driver got out holding a crowbar and hit her twice, breaking both her arms.
(CBC)
The time elapsed between the honking and the attack was less than three minutes.
Eliasson denied he was the man who attacked her. In a police interview after his arrest, he claimed that after he was honked at, he continued delivering newspapers.
The victim testified she was sure it was the same car in both encounters — that’s the Crown’s theory too.
In closing arguments Thursday, prosecutor Mark van Manen told Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Adam Germain, “We’re dealing with just two minutes and 42 seconds. It was only a block and a half away.”
Van Manen said it was not “reasonable or rational” to believe someone else driving the same kind and colour of car at that time of the morning randomly drove up and attacked Schendzielorz.
“Mr. Eliasson is the only individual who had the motive to attack the complainant,” the Crown said.
Chelsea Schendzielorz was in hospital for a week after the attack. (Edmonton Police Service)
The Crown acknowledged discrepancies in the victim’s testimony but noted it can be hard to recall specifics after a traumatic experience.
“She was the victim of an extremely violent assault. This experience certainly affected her ability to recall specific details.”
‘Life is filled with coincidences’
“Life is filled with coincidences. This is a case that’s turning on identity,” defence lawyer Zack Elias said in his closing argument.
He argued the Crown had failed to prove identity beyond a reasonable doubt and described the victim’s evidence as “unreliable”.
“She gives an entirely different physical description of the man who was attacked her as well as what she was attacked with,” Elias said.
“Her memory changes from seeing the pictures in court. It goes to suggest that she does not have a clear reliable memory of the event…She wants to believe it’s him. She wants to believe police have arrested the right individual.”
Elias told the judge he was sympathetic and acknowledged the injuries suffered by Schendzielorz were “tragic”, but he argued, “The Crown falls well short of the mark in proving identity. There’s no doubt in my mind she was attacked and wishes Eliasson to be her attacker. But there’s too many discrepancies.”
The judge will hand down his decision on Friday afternoon.