Wheelchair-bound Manitoba man attacked in Australia
Wom, would you kindly go have a "word" with these young gentlemen???;)
http://www.winnipegsun.com/news/worl...51-winsun.html
Wheelchair-bound Manitoba man attacked in Australia
By ROSS ROMANIUK, Winnipeg Sun
Last Updated: March 10, 2010 4:53pm
A 35-year-old Canadian man who uses a wheelchair is in an Sydney, Australia hospital after being badly beaten by two teenagers.Click here to watch the video
The grandmother of a disabled Winnipeg Beach man suffering serious assault injuries in Australia wants the two thugs who allegedly beat him to be punished to the full extent of the law.
Vivian Proden told the Winnipeg Sun on Wednesday that her grandson, 35-year-old Heath Proden, did nothing to deserve being attacked in his wheelchair at a train station Tuesday night just outside Sydney.
And she added that because of that assault, which was carried out in part with metal pieces from the wheelchair, her grandson was to undergo surgery on his skull within the next several hours.
"His skull is fractured by the terrible assault," Vivian Proden, 78, said from her home near Portage la Prairie.
"It's deplorable. It's all over the world like that, though, isn't it? Are you safe anywhere?" she added. "I'd like to see them sentenced to the top of the sentencing, instead of slapping their hands as they're doing today — slapping their hands and letting them go in a month or two. The sentence should be severe. Our government is way too lax — and other governments, too."
Vivian Proden added that "as far as I know," her grandson will recover, "unless you've got different news for me."
Two boys aged 16 and 15 have been charged with assault- and robbery-related offences after Proden was attacked while waiting alone for a train on a platform at the Mount Druitt Railway Station in New South Wales, just outside Sydney, about 11 p.m. local time.
Proden, who had become paralysed 10 years ago because of injuries suffered in a snowmobiling accident in the Winnipeg Beach area, had just left a nearby concert featuring Manitoba country band Doc Walker — some of whose members he had known while growing up in Portage la Prairie.
The attack occurred after two males allegedly tried to intimidate Proden verbally, police in New South Wales had told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper. They followed him onto an elevator when he tried to leave the station, and punched him in the face, knocking him out of the wheelchair.
The suspects stomped on him while he lay on the ground and tried to take his wheelchair and other belongings, alleged police, who released video footage of the assault captured by security cameras at the station.
During the attack, which lasted three to five minutes, the assailants also allegedly pulled metal bars off the wheelchair and used them to hit Proden in his head and body. After leaving the elevator, the thugs returned to continue beating the victim.
Proden was taken to hospital in serious condition to undergo treatment for lacerations to his head and what the Morning Herald described as a "depression" to his skull.
Pruden has reportedly been in Australia since November on a working visa to visit his girlfriend, Kristin Sharrock.
The 16-year-old suspect was arrested by police soon after the incident and was charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent and robbery with a weapon causing grievous bodily harm. The 15-year-old suspect surrendered to police Wednesday morning, and faces similar charges.
Supt. Wayne Cox of police in the Mount Druitt area told reporters in Australia on Wednesday that the attack was a "calculated assault" and "one of the most serious attacks that I've seen," the Morning Herald reported.
"He's a wonderful, kind, generous, strong individual. He's been through a lot in his life and he doesn't deserve what has happened to him," Sharrock — in a video on the Morning Herald's website — told reporters in the Sydney area. She added that she's "sick to my stomach," because Proden "came out here for me and he ended up in the hospital ... he could have died."
Video of the assault and of Sharrock's comments have been posted online on YouTube and several news websites, including winnipegsun.com. However, George Khamo of New South Wales police said that since the second suspect turned himself in, "we can no longer issue the video for legal reasons."
