Friday, June 21, 2013

Calvin Barry Defence Lawyer

Spice man trial: Assault victim asked why he didn’t seek help at scene

Manuel Belo, the victim in the spice man trial, testified Thursday that he didn’t deserve to be attacked by Toronto restaurateur Naveen Polapady.

By: Kamila Hinkson News reporter, Published on Thu Jun 20 2013

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If you had just been attacked, your eyes stinging from a spicy substance being thrown in your face, your head split open and bleeding, what would you do after breaking free of your assailant?

Would you ride your bicycle home to wash out your eyes? Or try to find someone to help?

Those were questions posed to Manuel Belo, the victim in what’s been dubbed the “spice man trial”, after he resumed his testimony Thursday. In August 2011, restaurateur Naveen Polapady allegedly threw a “chicken masala” mixture at Belo and struck him numerous times with a broomstick after mistaking him for another man, who Polapady caught on camera breaking into his cube van.

After the incident, Belo got on his bicycle and rode roughly four blocks from Polapady’s Bloor St. property, which doubles as his restaurant and his house, to his own Palmerston Ave. home, shared with his mother and daughter. Belo said he kept one eye open at a time as he travelled.

Defence lawyer Calvin Barry asked why he didn’t try to get help before going home.

“I had to get whatever it was that was stinging my face off,” Belo said.

Barry suggested Belo didn’t stick around or stop for help because he was attempting to break into Polapady’s van that day, and didn’t want to be arrested. Belo categorically denied that statement.

Polapady is facing charges of assault causing bodily harm and assault with a weapon related to the scuffle.

Belo maintained that he didn’t know he was on Polapady’s property when he walked toward the door to scout for empty bottles to cash in, what used to be a regular pastime for him. But even then, the 51-year-old bricklayer said he didn’t deserve to be attacked over a case of mistaken identity.

Polapady has said he mistook Belo for a man he caught on video breaking into his car four days before the altercation, on Aug. 17, 2011.

The defence’s case, however, rests on the idea that it doesn’t matter if Polapady had the wrong guy — Belo was treading where he didn't belong.

“Whether or not (Belo) thought of all the times he’d been on (Polapady’s) property, that one time he got it wrong, really is a red herring,” Barry said.

Belo was arrested after the tussle, but was never charged with a crime.

Police later arrested another man, Justin Mitchell, for stealing from Polapady’s van. He pleaded guilty to theft under $5,000 last April.

During his cross-examination, Barry often referred back to statements Belo made either to the police the day of his arrest, or during an April court appearance, and pointed out what he believed to be contradictions in Belo’s testimony.

At one point, Crown attorney John Flaherty objected to Barry’s method of questioning, saying that the defence lawyer was “trying to take advantage of (Belo’s) lack of recollection.”

Justice Peter Harris, said he would allow the questioning, noting that Belo was perhaps more certain about some details than he should be.

The line of inquiry “goes to the question of how reliable he is,” Harris said.

The trial will resume Nov. 14.

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/06/20/spice_man_trial_assault_victim_asked_why_he_didnt_seek_help_at_scene.html

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Left and Right - Episode 12 - Brampton - Rogers TV

Left and Right - Episode 11 - Brampton - Rogers TV

Left and Right - Episode 8 - Brampton - Rogers TV

Calvin Barry Defends Spice Man, April 2013

Calvin Barry Defends Spice Man, 2013

Monday, April 22, 2013

Calvin Barry, Toronto Lawyer

Spice victim bore ‘startling resemblance’ to car thief, defence lawyer argues

Megan O'Toole | 13/04/19 | Last Updated: 13/04/19 9:30 PM ET
More from Megan O'Toole | @megan_otoole

Naveen Polapady, owner of Maroli Indian Kerala Cuisine on Bloor Street West in Toronto, poses for a photograph at his second restaurant in Brampton, On., on Wednesday, April 25, 2012.

A year after the Prime Minister’s Office called to express support for Toronto restaurateur Naveen Polapady, the court on Friday heard a very different account of the vigilante Spiceman, whose case spurred a national debate on the rights of citizens to defend their property.

For the first time publicly, Manuel Belo — the 51-year-old who infamously received a faceful of masala spices when Mr. Polapady mistook him for a car thief — told his side of the story, describing how he began the morning of Aug. 21, 2011, on his bicycle, scavenging for bottles and cans to supplement his modest bricklayer’s income. He had just finished scanning the parking lot behind Maroli restaurant on Bloor Street, when out of nowhere he felt a substance “like spaghetti sauce watered down” thrown into his face.

“My vision was impaired. My breathing was impaired,” said Mr. Belo, a reformed crack addict who was once jailed for stealing copper wire and subsequently began volunteering at a local food bank.

“It was thrown directly over my face, all over my head… It went in my eyes, it went in my mouth [and] I couldn’t see anything at all,” Mr. Belo told Mr. Polapady’s assault trial. “My eyes were stinging.”

It became difficult to breathe, he added, as each gulp of air felt “like swallowing hot coals.” His first reaction was shock.

“I was just surprised,” he testified. “I didn’t realize what was going on.”

The precursor to the spice-hurling incident came four days earlier, when convicted thief Jason Mitchell broke into Mr. Polapady’s car to steal several items, including a GPS device and a laptop.
The defence contends Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Belo bore a “startling resemblance” to each other, almost like twins. Summoned to the stand Friday, Toronto Police Const. Shahrukh Mirza agreed they had “certain features” in common; both were white, had receding hairlines and were wearing backpacks and riding bicycles.

So when he found Mr. Belo lurking in the Maroli parking lot on Aug. 21, 2011, Mr. Polapady assumed he had caught the thief red-handed, the court heard. Surveillance footage shows the pair grappling as Mr. Polapady wields a broomstick.

Mr. Belo says he felt his body “being whacked” by that stick moments after the sauce-like spice mixture hit his face.

Whack. ‘Where’s my GPS?’ Whack. ‘Where’s my GPS?’

“I felt the stick break once [on my arm] and then I felt it break again on the other arm,” Mr. Belo testified, noting he pleaded with his attacker to stop, but all the other man said in response was: “Where’s my GPS?”

The stick connected with his legs and arms, Mr. Belo said, and opened a gash in his head that required six stitches.

“I tried to punch him but I couldn’t see where he was too well,” Mr. Belo said, adding he screamed at Mr. Polapady to leave him alone. “[I told him], ‘I’m just collecting empties. I don’t have the GPS. But all I kept getting was: Whack. ‘Where’s my GPS?’ Whack. ‘Where’s my GPS?’”

The two scuffled for a brief period before breaking apart and leaving the area separately, Mr. Belo on his bicycle and Mr. Polapady in his van. As he cycled away, Mr. Belo says he came across a garden hose and used it to wash the red spice mixture from his hair, ears and face.

During cross-examination, defence lawyer Calvin Barry suggested that even though Mr. Belo was not the GPS thief from days earlier, he had indeed attempted to open the back door of Mr. Polapady’s van on Aug. 21, 2011, and was “caught in the act.”

“You lunged at [Mr. Polapady]. To defend himself, he shot that chili pepper in your face,” Mr. Barry asserted.

“No,” Mr. Belo maintained.

“You lunged at him and with your other hand you grabbed at his throat… It’s a full-blown fight,” Mr. Barry said.

Mr. Belo disagreed, maintaining he had only stopped by the Maroli lot to check for bottles and cans. The ensuing struggle prevented him from attending his brick-laying job for a few days, he testified, primarily because of the swelling to his legs.

Ever since that fateful day, Mr. Belo says he has refrained from collecting any stray bottles or cans. Sometimes he comes across empties in the park, but he lets them lie.

“With my luck,” he told the court, “if I bent down to pick it up, squirrels would think I’m trying to steal their chestnuts.”

The trial resumes in June.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/04/19/spice-victim-bore-startling-resemblance-to-car-thief-defence-lawyer-argues/