A construction worker accused in an alleged case of hate crime that left a 63-year-old gay man permanently brain damaged will have to wait another day to learn his fate.
A B.C. provincial court judge was expected to hand down a verdict Tuesday in the aggravated assault trial of Shawn Woodward, but proceedings have been put over until Wednesday.
The 37-year-old construction worker was charged after Ritchie Dowrey suffered permanent brain damage after he was punched and knocked down while playing pool last March at a pub in the city's West End.
Woodward admits he made a derogatory comment about Dowrey's sexuality but has maintained he acted in self-defence, saying the older man made several unwanted advances towards him during the evening, including groping him.
Witnesses testified hearing the accused say the words "he's a faggot. He deserved it. He touched me. I'm not a faggot," or variations thereof, after they detained him outside of the pub.
Moments earlier, the court heard that Woodward knocked Dowrey unconscious with a single punch to the head and then calmly stepped over the body and left.
The men were both at the Fountainhead Pub on Davie Street, a neighbourhood haunt on Davie St. which often attracts a mixed crowd, including members of the gay community.
Dowrey has never given his account of what happened that night because of the head injury he received in the incident.
If Woodward is found guilty on hate crime charges, that designation will be added at sentencing.
