'I couldn't watch it': Man pleads guilty to assault caught on video
Skateboarder attacks man accused of beating him with baseball bat
Video of a disturbing daytime assault was shown in Charlottetown Provincial Court Monday.
Even the man who committed the crime found it a little much.
"I couldn't watch it. It made me sick," Christopher John Lambe, 44, told the judge, after the cell phone video had been shown in court.
The video was shot the morning of Nov. 29 at the corner of Upper Hillsborough and Euston Streets in Charlottetown. It shows Lambe, fists bloodied, repeatedly punching a man in the face, as he holds his victim by the collar of his jacket. The two men tussle with each other around a stop sign on the street corner as several bystanders gather round, including the man who shot the video.
"I'm going to kill you," Lambe is heard saying to his victim.
When he realizes he's being filmed, he asks why.
"You shouldn't do this," answers the man holding the phone.
Lambe's victim eventually falls to the ground. Lambe then stomps on his head and upper body a few times then starts kicking him in the face. The man lets out a sharp cry of pain following one of the kicks to the face, but Lambe delivers more blows.
Assault with baseball bat
Lambe pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily harm. Charges of aggravated assault and uttering a death threat where dropped, after his guilty plea.
Crown prosecutor Lisa Goulden told court the victim suffered bone fractures in his skull and jaw.
The video does not show what happened to Lambe in the moments before the assault.
Court heard that Lambe was riding his skateboard on his way home from Victoria Park where he had spent the morning taking photos. It's not clear how or why Lambe and his victim got into an altercation but in statements to police, witnesses said the other man struck the first blow — with a baseball bat.
At one point in the video, a bystander hands Lambe a baseball bat, but Lambe does not strike the man with it.
Previous head injury
Defence lawyer Thane MacEachern told court Lambe blacked out after being hit and doesn't remember what happened. He also said Lambe suffered a serious head injury when he was a child and suffered a stroke in 2009, both of which may have affected his memory and his behaviour that day.
God strike me dead if I'm lying. I don't remember it- Chris Lambe
As MacEachern spoke in court, Lambe sat at his side and made the sign of the cross. Before sentence was handed down, he rose and spoke himself.
"God strike me dead if I'm lying, I don't remember it," said Lambe. "I can't believe that's me."
Lambe also told court he's been studying the Bible during his time in custody since his arrest the day of the assault.
"I don't drink. I don't smoke cigarettes. I changed my life immediately after this event," he said.
Sentenced to time served
Judge John Douglas sentenced Lambe to seven and a half months in jail.
"The fact that you were attacked first is a major factor," said the judge.
Lambe was ordered to remain on probation for one year and to have no contact with the other man.
That man, who's 42, is charged with assault with a weapon. He is slated to appear in court Thursday.