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 Proden and Sharrock are seen in December. He suffered a severely fractured skull in an attack. |
WINNIPEG - The family of one of the teenage suspects in the severe beating of a disabled Manitoba man in Australia has blamed the victim for allegedly provoking the boys charged in the incident.
A sister of the 15-year-old youth in custody in the Sydney area spoke up for her brother on an Australian radio station Thursday, claiming wheelchair-bound Heath Proden, 35, started the dispute late Tuesday night at a railway station just west of the city.
The sister suggested New South Wales police, who investigated and arrested the boys, haven't publicly released parts of security video that show how the incident began before Proden -- a resident of Winnipeg Beach -- was beaten, in part with metal parts pulled from his wheelchair.
"(The police) didn't show the bit of the video recording where he punched my brother in the face twice before that happened," the sister said of Proden, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. "He's a really good bloke. He does anything his family tells him, this is something he wouldn't do."
John Proden, father of the man who remains at a Sydney hospital following what his family says was successful surgery for a severely fractured skull, slammed the claim as ludicrous.
"I don't see what sense it would make for a guy in a wheelchair to provoke a group of youths," Proden said from his home in Portage la Prairie.
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"Secondly, is that the justification they're using for having beat my son to near death? If that's their best defence, they have no defence."
Police have said they suspect the attack, allegedly by the 15-year-old and another boy, aged 16, was unprovoked.
Proden was assaulted while waiting alone for a train about 11 p.m. local time.
Partly paralyzed for the past 10 years because of injuries suffered in a snowmobiling accident, Proden had just left a nearby concert featuring Manitoba country music band Doc Walker -- some of whose members he had known while growing up in Portage.
The teens allegedly knocked the man out of the wheelchair, stomped on him and beat him with the metal bars in an attack police said lasted three to five minutes.
Shellan Proden, the victim's mother, noted police said her son tried to leave the train station to avoid the youths.
"It doesn't even warrant discussing," Shellan said. "That kind of stuff -- he said, she said -- when you watch the video, he wheeled away from them to try to get away."
Court documents show the 15-year-old suspect is a repeat offender who had "failed to observe bail conditions previously," the Morning Herald reported.
Both boys are charged with grievous bodily harm with intent and robbery with a weapon causing wounding.
"They were refused bail in their first court appearance," New South Wales police Senior Const. Leigh Wannan said, adding both will be back in court on April 8.
Proden has been in Australia since November on a working visa to visit his girlfriend, Kristin Sharrock.
ross.romaniuk@sunmedia.ca