Kurtis Wayne Hedin was found guilty of assault and damage to property during the Sept 10 sitting of Jasper Provincial Court.

Hedin represented himself at the trial where he was found guilty of assaulting Michael Froiland on Aug 11, 2009 outside Cavell Apartments. Before his sentence was decided, Judge D. C. Norheim adjourned the case until Oct 8 so that a pre-sentence report, which will include a psychological assessment, could be prepared.

“Your attitude is sick and I have to question how you’re coping with society,” said Norheim while sentencing the man.

“You have been very aggressive in court today,” he added.

As Norheim passed down his sentence, Hedin interrupted the judge and was clearly unhappy with the guilty finding.

“You’re about to find out that you did (assault him) and if you keep talking you’ll go to jail now,” said Norheim.

The assault occurred when Froiland was working as a taxi driver. He arrived at Cavell Apartments to pick up two people and take them to Pyramid Lake. Once he had placed his passenger’s bikes in the vehicle and closed the passenger door, Hedin approached the cab.

According to Froiland’s evidence, Hedin began verbally harassing him, first by telling him to “get back in the cab”.

Hedin’s only witness, his partner Sarah Ford, also recounted the event. “Kurtis told him to get back into the cab,” she said, “Then Michael Froiland said, ‘what you can’t do anything.’ ”

As he walked towards the cab, Froiland said, Hedin proceeded to call him a “cabby bitch” and many other names.

Froiland testified that because Hedin appeared to be getting angry, he got back in the cab so he could leave the situation. Once in the cab, he said, Hedin kicked the passenger door and then punched him through the open window, breaking his sunglasses.

Hedin chuckled to himself while Froiland recounted the assault until the Judge asked him to “conduct himself appropriately.”

While giving evidence, Froiland admitted that he was not hit with much force but just enough to break his sunglasses.

This was reinforced by police officer Roy Kennedy, who said there were “no overwhelming injuries” from the assault, except for “some redness around the left eye.”

After questioning Froiland, Hedin called him a “liar” for saying he was not trying to antagonize Hedin during the incident and didn’t call him names.

According to Ford, Froiland said “you can’t touch me. What you going to do?”

When giving evidence, Hedin admitted the pair exchanged “childish words” and that he attempted to kick the driver’s door but failed.

“He just kept on pushing my buttons, said Hedin “I attempted to kick the door, but failed.”

Later he told the court he “tried to shut the door for him.”

He also said he simply “touched” Froiland but did not punch him, because he allegedly had a dislocated shoulder.

According to Hedin, after this he leaned through the window and slightly touched the cab drivers head, but with little to no force. He said he simply “touched” Froiland but did not punch because he had a dislocated shoulder and the window was not down far enough to make a forceful contact.

“I could barely reach his head,” he said explaining that the window was not open far enough for him to cock his arm backwards to make a punching motion.

“If I would have struck him he would have evidence... all over his face,” he added.

Hedin demonstrated the movement that was required to punch someone with his left arm from the witness box and argued he could not have done such a move due to chronic shoulder injury.

When asked if he made physical contact with Froiland, Hedin answered, “I tried to... I could of hit him harder if I wanted to.”

During his closing statement he repeated, “if I were to struck or hurt anyone, he’d have bruises today. I did touch him to prove a point, that I can touch him.”

When Norheim sentenced Hedin he said, “you somehow think that it’s permissible to bully people.”

“You can’t touch him (Froiland), just as he said... and you touched him to show that you could. You don’t have to like him and he doesn’t have to like you... but you do not have the ability, in a free society... to touch him.”

Norheim was clearly unimpressed with how Hedin conducted himself during court, as he often laughed and interrupted the judge or the crown.

At one point during sentencing, Norheim said, “you’re on the edge of going in for psychological assessment.” Hedin replied, “are you kidding me?”

“No, I’m not,” he said before finishing his statements and adjourned the sentencing to October 8.