Calvin Barry Defends Spice Man

Spice man trial: ‘It felt like I was swallowing hot coals’

Manuel Belo, the man allegedly hit in the face with spices by a Toronto restaurateur, took the stand Friday in the continuing “spice man” trial.

Restaurateur Naveen Polapady is accompanied by wife Snigdha as he arrives for a court hearing in Feburary. Polapady is facing assault charges related to a violent tussle outside his restaurant in 2011.

Manuel Belo hopped off his bike behind an Indian restaurant on Bloor St. W. early on a Sunday morning in 2011.

The 50-year-old was looking for empty bottles or cans in the recycling bins, as he does a few times a month in the alley that runs parallel to Bloor.

He thought he saw two empty liquor bottles — but was mistaken. He was getting on his bike to leave, when someone came up behind him and threw a substance like “watered-down spaghetti sauce” in his face.

“I couldn’t see anything at all, my eyes were stinging,” he told the court Friday afternoon as the so-called “spice man trial” continued. “It felt like I was swallowing hot coals.”

He couldn’t see who it was: “my sight was impaired, my breathing was impaired.”

“Stop. I’m just collecting empties,” he told the court he yelled. But then he felt a stick hit him, and a man’s voice yell repeatedly “where is my GPS?”

He felt the stick crack on his forearms, he testified. The man also hit him directly on his baseball-hat covered head, causing him to need stitches, Belo said.

The violent altercation, where Belo said he attempted to punch restaurateur Naveen Polapady though he was unable to see clearly, was caught on surveillance cameras operated by Polapady.

Polapady is facing assault charges related to the violent tussle that began with throwing what he calls “chicken masala” at Belo’s face.

Polapady has said he mistook Belo for a man he caught on video breaking into his car on Aug. 17, 2011. That man — Justin Mitchell, an acquaintance of Belo’s — was later arrested and pleaded guilty to theft under $5,000 last April.

However, Polapady’s lawyer Calvin Barry contends that Belo was trying to break into Polapady’s van that Sunday morning, and had the day before attempted to open the back door to the restaurant. Polapady lives above the restaurant with his family. Belo denies he made any attempts to break into Polapady’s property.

Belo — accompanied to court Friday by his tearful mother and brother — is a bricklayer by trade who has lived most of his life on Palmerston Blvd., a five-minute bike ride away from Polapady’s restaurant. He has been convicted on one charge of break-and-enter and two charges of attempted break-and-enter in 2006.

At the time he was addicted to crack and abusing alcohol, he told the court. However, the nine days he spent in jail and subsequent community service helped get him clean, he said.

Since Aug. 21, 2011, Belo no longer collects empty bottles and cans even from the park, he told the court. “Knowing my luck the squirrels would say I was trying to steal their chestnuts and I’d end up with rabies shots instead of stitches.”

The trial resumes in June.

The “spice man” case has grabbed attention for is similarities to the “Lucky Moose” case, in which Toronto store owner David Chen was arrested after catching and tying up a shoplifter.

Chen became the face of the “citizen’s arrest” legislation passed last June that empowers ordinary people to make arrests within a reasonable time of the crime being committed, when there’s no option to have police do so. It also permits people to take reasonable actions — as determined by a judge — to defend their homes and families.

Martin Montes, Associate to Calvin Barry

Defense attorneys for Daniel Jimenez-Acosta, Setu Purohit and Martin Montes (l-r) leave court in London Thursday Apr 4, 2013.

London man killed wife, made up story about robbers: Crown

 

Credits: MIKE HENSEN/QMI AGENCY

 

KELLY PEDRO | QMI AGENCY

LONDON, Ont. - Daniel Jimenez-Acosta, 45, testified he thought it was a "dream, a nightmare" when he saw his wife bloody and lying face down in the basement laundry room of their townhouse.

 

After trying to lift his wife's body, she fell hard and Jimenez-Acosta said he went to the laundry tub and dunked his head under the tap.

 

"I wanted to wake up," he told his defence lawyer Martin Montes.

 

Jimenez-Acosta is on trial for second-degree murder after his wife's body was found badly beaten. Patricia Pacheco-Hernandez, 41, was a mother of three children.

 

When he took glass in his hand and sliced himself outside in front of a neighbour he was still trying to wake up, he told the court.

 

Assistant Crown attorney Fraser Ball challenged Jimenez-Acosta's dream-like state, saying it was instead a ploy to contaminate the crime scene to make it tough for police to investigate.

 

"No, I don't know how to do that," Jimenez-Acosta said.

 

Ball questioned why Jimenez-Acosta would remove a piece of wood from the family's back patio door.

 

Twice before, thieves had either broken into the family home or tried to while the couple's two sons were there. Their son wedged a piece of wood at the back patio door to reinforce it.

 

On the day his wife died, Jimenez-Acosta said he went to the store, looking for something the same size and shape as the wood because his wife wanted it to look nicer.

 

"Is it your bad fortune that in approximately that hour or so (you were gone) someone entered your home and brutally killed your wife?" Ball asked.

 

Ball said Jimenez-Acosta killed his wife after with a vase after she told him their marriage was over.

"That never happened," Jimenez-Acosta said.

 

Ball said Jimenez-Acosta removed the wood at the patio door and created a story about robbers,

"You used the dream-state story to cover up other details you couldn't contaminate," Ball said.

 

"It wasn't a dream, it was a nightmare," Jimenez-Acosta said.

 

Pacheco-Hernandez told him she wasn't going to pretend anymore, Ball said.

 

"No, she never said anything about getting out of the relationship," he said, adding the couple remained close to the end and even had sex the night before.

 

She smiled to him that morning, let him caress her. When he tickled her, she laughed. Someone who wanted out of a relationship wouldn't do that, he said.

 

http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/canada/archives/2013/04/20130416-123221.html

 

Martin Montes, Associate to Calvin Barry, Defends Daniel Jimenez-Acosta

Daniel Jimenez-Acosta on trial for second-degree murder in death of wife 

By Kelly Pedro, The London Free Press

Wednesday, April 3, 2013 9:10:30 EDT PM

 

Patricia Pacheco-Hernandez’s beautiful red curly hair soaked in the blood pooling around her body.

That’s what Serife Yusof remembers about going downstairs into Pacheco-Hernandez’s basement on May 18, 2011, and finding her lying on the basement floor in the laundry room.

She wasn’t alone. Pacheco-Hernandez’s husband of 14 years, Daniel Jimenez-Acosta, was sitting on top of her body, crying and rubbing her chest and calling her name, Yusof testified on the first day of Jimenez-Acosta’s second-degree murder trial.

“Patricia, Patricia,” Yusof recalled him crying.

Jimenez-Acosta’s trial began Wednesday when Assistant Crown attorney Fraser Ball laid out for the jury the case against the man.

Pacheco-Hernandez, 41, was a time zone and continent away from her family in Colombia, living in a townhouse in London — a city that was supposed to be a temporary home — when she reconnected with a childhood friend. The two would later have an affair after Pacheco-Hernandez confided to him that her marriage was reeling toward divorce, Ball said.

The family came to Canada as political refugees after fleeing Colombia.

On the surface, they were a typical couple with three children.

Bicycles were left on the driveway of the family home, a potty was on the bathroom floor, Dora toothpaste on the bathroom counter.

On the day she died, Pacheco-Hernandez helped her children get ready for school and day care and fed them breakfast. She would be dead before lunch, Ball said.

Her battered body was found in the laundry room in the basement of the family home, with Jimenez-Acosta sitting on top of her, rubbing his hands on her chest, his own chest shirtless and bloody.

Pacheco-Hernandez’s body was battered, Ball told the court, the tendons in her hand severed, some fingers nearly amputated and her scalp “criss-crossed with lacerations.”

Yusof testified her daughter left their home about 11:15 a.m. to pick up her son from school. She returned to find Jimenez-Acosta’s elderly father outside his son’s home yelling for police.

Her daughter told her of the commotion and Yusof went to the home, finding Daniel Jimenez-Acosta hysterical, shirtless and bloody and asked him where the children were. Jimenez-Acosta didn’t answer at first, Yusof testified, before telling her they were at school and running into the basement of the house.

She followed him and found him kneeling on the floor.

At first, Yusof testified, she didn’t see her friend.

But then, she saw her legs, her red curly hair and a pool of blood around her head and eyes.

“Right away I thought she was dead,” she testified.

Jimenez-Acosta was sitting on his dead wife’s chest, calling her name and rubbing her chest.

“He was crying. He was mad. He was trying to shake her,” she testified.

“I got scared and I yelled at him, ‘What did you do to her? Get away from her.’ Then I ran upstairs,” Yusof said in response to questions from Ball.

Upstairs she briefly spoke to a 911 operator when Jimenez-Acosta appeared slicing his chest and arms with thick glass, she said.

When a London police officer arrived on scene, Yusof showed him to the basement, where Jimenez-Acosta was again sitting on his dead wife’s body.

The officer could be heard on the 911 tape played for the court yelling at Jimenez-Acosta to get away from Pacheco-Hernandez.

Jimenez-Acosta, a slight man who is following the trial with the help of a Spanish translator, broke down in tears as his father’s voice could be heard on the 911 tape calling out his name.

Yusof said the officer told her to go upstairs. She said she did and ran home, where she started to cry.

Under cross examination, she agreed with defence lawyer Martin Montes that Jimenez-Acosta was a loving father and that Pacheco-Hernandez was happy and smiled when she talked about her husband, who had recently returned from Colombia a few days before her death. Yusof said she didn’t sense any problems between the couple.

The trial before Superior Court Justice Andrew Goodman continues Thursday.

kelly.pedro@sunmedia.ca

http://www.lfpress.com/2013/04/03/daniel-jimenez-acosta-on-trial-for-second-degree-murder-in-death-of-wife#.UWW68ukfAAw.email

 

Calvin Barry and Associates- Defence Counsel on Murder trial of Daniel Jimenez-Acosta

Pathologist testifies at second-degree murder trial of Daniel Jimenez-Acosta in London 

By Jane Sims, The London Free Press

Monday, April 8, 2013 9:08:32 EDT PM

Patricia Pacheco-Hernandez’s mangled, bloodied hands told a story of terrible violence.

On her right hand, her ring finger and the tip of her thumb were almost amputated.

The ring finger of her left hand was almost cut off.

Several of her digits were fractured and twisted in unnatural ways. Her long fingernails were intact.

Photographs of her hands were shown Monday to the Superior Court jury at the trial of the woman’s husband, Daniel Jimenez-Acosta, during testimony from Edward Tweedie, the forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy on the woman’s body.

Tweedie said Pacheco-­Hernandez, 41, died from multiple blunt and sharp force head wounds on May 18, 2011, from at least 20 hits to her head.

The hand injuries were restricted to the top of the hands, an indication she put her hands onto her head attempting to ward off the blows, Tweedie said.

Jimenez-Acosta, 45, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder.

Tweedie said there were 49 different groups of wounds. The most significant were to her head and hands.

A large group of cuts and lacerations were at the top left and back of the scalp. Parts of the skull were visible, Tweedie said, and there were more than 20 depressed fractures of the skull.

Throughout the injuries were “innumerable fragments of broken glass in the hair and head,” as well as in her hands.

More injury was found on the back of the head and near the forehead. Tweedie said it was difficult to count how many times Pacheco-Hernandez was hit in the head, but gave a conservative estimate of at least 20 times.

The wounds would cause a lot of bleeding and blood had pooled on the floor when police discovered her in the laundry room

Tweedie said there was a “marked depletion of blood left in her body” at the time of autopsy.

Though there weren’t any visible injuries to the brain, Tweedie said he couldn’t rule out a concussion that could result in unconsciousness or death.

Though there were some scattered bruises on the back of her neck, there was no internal fractures consistent with strangulation.

Tweedie was shown the broken base of a lead-glass vase. He held it and remarked on its “significant weight” and that he saw photos of glass fragments that could have come from it.

Tweedie was asked by the police to comment on photos of Jimenez-Acosta that were taken by the police at the time of his arrest.

There were scrapes on his chest and four linear marks over the breast bone. Two more scrapes showed up on his leg. Dried blood was on the back of the fingers on the right hand.

None of the wounds were in an advanced stage of healing.

The chest injuries were “consistent with fingernails” scraped across the skin and could be Pacheco-Hernandez trying to defend herself, Tweedie said.

Defence lawyer Martin Montes narrowed his focus to broken shards of glass found in a front porch planter at the couple’s southeast London townhouse and asked if they could have caused Jimenez-Acosta’s injuries.

Tweedie said it was “not entirely impossible, but unlikely.”

Forensic scientist James Currie testified that DNA found under Pacheco-Hernandez’s fingernails were a match to Jimenez-Acosta’s profile. The odds of it belonging to someone else was placed at one in 240 trillion.

Currie explained that their testing showed that another person’s DNA can only show up under nails from more intimate or forced contact. It only shows up in 60% even with a heavy scratch and can easily be washed away.

The trial takes a day off Tuesday and returns on Wednesday.

jane.sims@sunmedia.ca
http://www.lfpress.com/2013/04/08/pathologist-testifies-at-second-degree-murder-trial-of-daniel-jimenez-acosta-in-london#.UWW_rq_E-CE.email

Calvin Barry Defends Spice Man

NAVEEN POLAPADY AND LHIS LAWYER CALVIN BARRY (R) ON THE STEPS OF OLD CITY HALL IN TORONTO AFTER HIS ASSAULT TRIAL WAS DELAYED UNTIL FEB 23.

Credits: MICHAEL PEAKE/QMI AGENCY

MICHELE MANDEL | QMI AGENCY

TORONTO - Toronto restaurant owner Naveen "Spiceman" Polapady, arrested for throwing masala spice at a suspected thief, pleaded not guilty to assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm at Old City Hall court Friday morning.

His charge regarding throwing the spice at the eyes of Manuel Belo - administering a noxious substance - was dropped earlier by the Crown attorney.

His judge-alone trial opened with the playing of a 911 tape in which a winded Polapady said he was following a thief he had spotted trying to steal a computer out of a car parked in the lot behind his Bloor St. restaurant on Aug. 21, 2011.

"I caught him red handed," Polapady told the 911 operator. "I tried to put chili powder on him and he hit me."

Belo was originally charged with theft but after viewing surveillance video from the restaurant and seeing the man's injuries in the hospital - a head cut and welts on his arms and legs - the investigating detective concluded that the wrong man was under arrest.

"He was in a state of shock, he couldn't understand why this happened," testified Det.-Const. James Thompson.

"We began to view Mr. Belo as the victim in this matter and Mr. Polapady as the person responsible for his injuries."

The trial continues this afternoon.

http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/canada/archives/2013/02/20130222-123918.html

Spice Man trial: Photos show cut and welts on man after confrontation with restaurateur

Naveen Polapady pleads not guilty to assault in physical altercation with man he believed had stolen from his car.

Colin McConnell / Toronto Star

Naveen Polapady arrives at Old City Hall court in Toronto on Feb. 22. The restaurateur was charged with assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm after a confrontation with a man who he believed was trying to break into his car.

 

By:Alyshah HashamNews reporter, Published on Fri Feb 22 2013

 

A Toronto restaurateur nicknamed the “Spice Man” after throwing spice powder at a man he believed to be a thief pleaded not guilty Friday to assault charges.
 

Naveen Polapady, owner of the Bloor St. restaurant Maroli, is accused of assaulting Manuel Belo with a broomstick while confronting Belo near his car early on the morning of Aug. 21, 2011.
 

The confrontation followed a rash of break-ins and attempted break-ins to Polapady’s car and home.

“Why did you put chili powder on him?” asked the operator in a recording of a 911 call Polapady made from his car while pursuing the bicycle-riding Belo south on Palmerston Ave.
 

“He tried to hit me on my head and chest,” Polapady responded.
 

Belo was hospitalized and treated for head injuries following the incident, but was not charged.

Another man, Justin Mitchell, was later arrested for stealing Polapady’s cellphone and other electronics from his car. He pleaded guilty to theft under $5,000 last April. That theft occurred four days before Polapady’s altercation with Belo.
 

In a series of photographs presented by the Crown, Toronto police officer James Thompson identified red welts on Belo’s legs and forearms and a bloody cut on his head.
 

Based on Belo’s statement, surveillance video showing a “physical altercation” and reports from officers on the scene, Thompson said police began to view Belo as the victim rather than Polapady.

Surveillance video played in court Friday shows Polapady wielding a stick and fighting with Belo behind the restaurant. At one point Polapady appears to punch Belo in the face. Belo then leaves on his bike, followed by Polapady in his car.
 

The portion of the video showing the tussle was provided to police by Polapdy’s defence lawyer, Calvin Barry, after it was broadcast on CBC in April.
 

Polapady is charged with assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm. A previous charge of “administering a noxious substance” was dropped.
 

The “Spice Man” case has garnered much attention because of its similarities to the “Lucky Moose” case, in which Toronto store owner David Chen was arrested after catching and tying up a shoplifter.

Chen became the face of the “citizen’s arrest” legislation passed last June that empowers ordinary people to make arrests within a reasonable time of the crime being committed, when there’s no option to have police do so. It also permits people to take reasonable actions — as determined by a judge — to defend their homes and families.
 

Chen was awarded a Diamond Jubilee medal in recognition of his role last month.

http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2013/02/22/spice_man_trial_photos_show_cut_and_welts_on_man_after_restaurateur_confrontation.html
 

Calvin Barry Defends Spice Man