NAVEEN POLAPADY AND LHIS LAWYER CALVIN BARRY (R) ON THE STEPS OF OLD
CITY HALL IN TORONTO
Credits:
MICHAEL PEAKE/QMI AGENCY
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.
"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.
