CORNER BROOK — A Corner Brook man will be sentenced next month for an assault that left another man with serious injuries to his eyes.
Ronald Lloyd Peckford was convicted of a charge of assault causing bodily harm in provincial court in Corner Brook on Wednesday.
Judge Catherine Allen-Westby said she had concluded the Crown had proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Peckford was guilty of committing the assault that resulted in his victim suffering retinal detachment in both of his eyes.
The assault took place on Jan. 30, 2011 in Pinchgut Lake.
Peckford, 63, had been informed by his son of an incident that had occurred involving him and the victim, who was driving a backhoe. The incident angered Peckford so much that he tracked down his victim and climbed up on the backhoe and opened the door. At this point he told his victim that they had to straighten something out.
The victim told Peckford to f--k off and the judge said this only served to fuel Peckford's anger. He then opened the door to the backhoe again and started hitting his victim.
While Peckford admits to striking the complainant about four times, Allen-Westby said she believes the number of blows to be much higher.
After the assault the victim was diagnosed with detached retinas in both his eyes and medical testimony during Peckford's trial indicated the blows inflicted during the assault contributed to the retinal detachments.
Allen-Westby noted that the victim was vulnerable to retinal detachment, and while Peckford didn't know this, he was furious at his victim for putting his son at great risk to personal injury.
Peckford's lawyer, Keir O'Flaherty, asked Allen-Westby to order a pre-sentence report before sentencing his client. The judge granted that request and set facts and sentencing in the case for Sept. 26.
