A man who witnessed last year's fatal Cactus Club altercation told a Kelowna courtroom the victim did not seem sober the night he was fatally punched.
30-year-old Zachary Gaudette died just days after being found unresponsive on a sidewalk near the restaurant on Banks Rd. on February 17, 2016. 26-year-old Cory Van Gilder is on trial for manslaughter in his death.
Tyson Attwood told the jury he was outside the Cactus Club smoking with friends the night of the incident when Gaudette, who was near the traffic lights at the intersection of Highway 97 and Banks Road, walked towards the group of 20 to 30 people outside the restaurant.
“He started coming over, taking off his jackets and screaming and yelling at everyone. He was really, really belligerent.”
He testified Gaudette was inaudible and wasn’t making much sense.
“It was pretty much gibberish, he was just swearing and screaming and screaming about how he would fight anyone there,” he said “he was just screaming about fighting and cussing repeatedly.”
When Gaudette got closer, Attwood said he was getting into their faces, waving his arms up in the air, even asking one of his friends if he had a problem.
“I thought we were gonna get into a fight for sure. I thought there was gonna be an altercation cause he was right in his face,” he testified “we weren’t trying to fuel the situation but he was really getting into [my friends] face.”
While Gaudette continued to scream and yell at Attwood and his group of friends, Van Gilder got involved.
“This guy came out of the crowd and basically got in between us and the guy,” Attwood said “and then he punched him.”
Gaudette fell down, hitting his head on the pavement, and remained unresponsive on the ground, which Attwood said surprised him.
“It wasn’t like the hardest punch I’ve seen, it wasn’t like he was throwing all this might into it, it was, if you will, a regular punch.”
The jury was also shown video footage of the altercation on Tuesday.
The trial is expected to last two weeks.
Cory Van Gilder (SherDogCanada)