Alleged attacker gets bail

Photo: Thomas Kruger / Facebook

The young man accused in a nearly-fatal assault on a Penticton beach last month has been granted bail.

Judge Michelle Daneliuk ordered Thomas Kruger-Allen, 22, be released Monday under a long list of conditions. The submissions from the bail hearing and Daneliuk's reasons for release are covered under a routine publication ban.

Kruger-Allen was released on a $5,000 cash deposit to a property owned by his mother on the Penticton Indian Band reserve. He will be under a curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. and have to attend counselling through the PIB. He will also have to attend Alcoholics or Narcotics Anonymous twice a week and attend any residential treatment as recommended.

Kruger-Allen had about a dozen family members in the gallery supporting him Monday.

The victim of the alleged attack, 28-year-old Bradley Eliason, is still in hospital recovering from serious head trauma.

His wife Chelcie Townend told Castanet after the assault that her husband tried to intervene after two inebriated men started harassing youth at a camp fire on Okanagan Lake beach. Eliason was allegedly punched, falling back and hitting his head hard on the concrete.

Kruger-Allen is charged with one count of aggravated assault, two counts of common assault and one count of sexual assault.

The defence’s version of events cannot be published at this time due to the publication ban.

At the time of the alleged assault, Kruger-Allen was out on bail awaiting sentencing for taking part in a group attack outside the Mule Nightclub in 2017. He pleaded guilty to one charge of simple assault for that incident and will be sentenced on June 28.