Two Richmond brothers charged with beating two gay men while allegedly yelling homophobic slurs at them should be convicted of assault causing bodily harm, court heard Wednesday.
Ravinder "Robbie" Bassi and Parminder "Peter" Bassi are on trial on the charges, arising from an attack outside the Keefer Street condo of David Holtzman and Peter Regier in June 2010.
Crown prosecutor Kirstin Murphy told Vancouver Provincial Court that the brothers were identified by the victims and two witnesses, and photos of them running from the area were captured on surveillance video. The two brothers have pleaded not guilty.
The Crown, which has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the two attackers were the Bassi brothers, told court the victims had given statements to police describing their attackers before police released a photo of the suspects. She said later descriptions after the release were consistent with the earlier statements and the identification of the brothers weren't influenced by the photos.
The Bassi brothers' lawyers on Tuesday tried to have the police photo thrown out of evidence, arguing the photo was too dark and grainy for an ex-boss of Ravinder's to be certain it was him.
But Judge Raymond Low allowed the photo to stand as evidence.
Court also heard more details about the attack. Holtzman, who died earlier this year of a heart attack, and Regier had returned home from a concert to find a man, whom they allege was Ravinder Bassi, urinating on their condo. Holtzman said, "Do you really have to do this here? This is my home."
Holtzman said Ravinder asked him if he was a "fag" and if he was serious.
"Yes, I'm a fag, and, yes, I'm serious," court heard Holtzman replied.
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