Victim a 'major threat'

Surveillance footage of the punch that killed Zachary Gaudette in February 2016 was shown in court Tuesday, but witnesses say the man who threw the punch was protecting those around him.

Cory Van Gilder, 26, faced an eight-man, four-woman jury in his manslaughter case stemming from an incident outside the Kelowna Cactus Club Cafe on Banks Road.

Surveillance footage shows a large group of people outside the restaurant, when a lone man in a red shirt, 30-year-old Gaudette, approaches and begins addressing a man in a blue shirt. A few moments later, a man in a white shirt, Van Gilder, throws a punch and Gaudette falls to the ground.

Jordin Erback, the man in the blue shirt, described Gaudette as “belligerent” that night.

Erback was at the restaurant for a birthday party, and was outside smoking with Tyson Attwood and another friend, when Gaudette approached him. Erback and Attwood testified that Gaudette was yelling and screaming, and challenging everyone to a fight.

They had never met Gaudette or Van Gilder prior to the incident.

Erback described Gaudette as a “major threat” to the people in the parking lot and said Van Gilder was “100 per cent” protecting the people in the parking lot when he threw the deadly punch.

“He was screaming and swearing and just like, 'You got a problem, I'll fight anyone here,'” Attwood said. “We didn't really want to add to the situation ... I said nothing."

Attwood said he was sure Gaudette was going to throw a punch at one of them, before Van Gilder emerged from the crowd, turning Gaudette's attention.

“(Van Gilder) stepped in front of us and disarmed the situation,” Attwood said.

Gaudette fell to the ground, hitting his head, and stopped moving.

“I've never seen someone react like that from getting punched. He was kind of almost frozen, he wasn't really blinking or anything,” Attwood said.

Van Gilder, who has martial arts training, left the area covered by the surveillance camera.

Restaurant customer Damjan Madjar came outside about 9 p.m. and saw the restaurant manager performing CPR on the downed man. He said police arrived, followed by paramedics.

Gaudette died in hospital on Feb. 19.