Bouncer charged in punch

Photo: File photo

The trial has started for two men charged in connection with a vicious sucker punch outside a Kelowna nightclub.

A third man has already been convicted for throwing the punch and is serving a five-year jail sentence for the September 2014 incident outside Sapphire nightclub.

Steven Edward Kollie was convicted of aggravated assault last May for knocking out the much smaller Michael Martin with a single punch.

Steven Kaplan, a friend of Kollie, and Kyle O'Brien, the bouncer working at Sapphire on the night of the assault, also face aggravated assault charges, for the role the Crown alleges they played.

Court has heard Martin, his friend, and Kaplan, were involved in two separate "consensual" fights while attending the Liquid Zoo Lounge on the night of Sept. 6, 2014.

After the fights, Martin and two friends made their way to Sapphire, just one block away. O'Brien let Martin and his two friends into the bar.

Six minutes after the three men entered the bar, Kaplan and Kollie arrived outside Sapphire, as seen on surveillance footage from the evening.

The two men spoke briefly with O'Brien outside.

“About three minutes later, Mr. O'Brien brings Mr. Martin from inside the Sapphire,” Crown prosecutor David Grabavac said. “Mr. O'Brien has Mr. Martin in a chokehold, carrying him with his feet off the ground.”

Martin, now standing outside the bar, was approached by Kaplan, who engaged him in conversation.

On a surveillance video shown in court, Kollie can be seen approaching Martin from the west and punching him in the face, directly in front of two Sapphire bouncers. Kollie calmly walks away in the direction of Okanagan Lake. No one pursues him.

Martin hit his head on the pavement, fracturing his skull, and causing his brain to hemorrhage.

Kayla Araujo saw the assault take place, and called 911. In court, she referred to Martin as a “kid,” and said he was “pretty small.”

At the direction of the 911 operator, Araujo held a piece of cloth to the back of Martin's head, applying pressure, as he bled significantly from the head, foamed at the mouth, and “twitched” on the ground.

“(The bouncers) literally did absolutely nothing,” Araujo said.

Martin fell into a coma following the assault and spent two weeks recovering in hospital. He has not been able to return to his previous job, due to his brain injury, and now does more menial work.

“(Kaplan and O'Brien) were not the person that caused the injuries directly to Mr. Martin,” Grabavac said in his opening statement Tuesday. “Rather the Crown's theory is that Mr. Kaplan and Mr. O'Brien were parties to the offence, either ... aiding and abetting the principal and/or ... forming a common intention with the person who struck Mr. Martin.”

The Crown believes O'Brien removed Martin from the bar at the request of Kaplan and Kollie, or due to a “common intention,” formed during their discussion outside the bar, making O'Brien partially responsible for the attack.

The trial is scheduled for nine days, and is expected to wrap up late next week. The court will hear witness testimony from two of Martin's friends, several RCMP officers and another bouncer working at Sapphire on the night in question.