Man accused of attacking strangers deemed safety risk

A judge denied bail to a 51-year-old Brandon man on Wednesday, saying it was clear he posed a safety risk to the community following his alleged involvement in a string of serious assaults, including an incident that sent one man to hospital with glass embedded in his face.

Allegations of Abram Cook’s recent offending is “concerning” and involved acts of mischief and unprovoked attacks against strangers, which warrants he spend time in custody ahead of a possible trial to protect the public, said provincial court Judge Donovan Dvorak, who gave his decision via phone in Brandon.

“The question I would ask is, who’s next?” he said. “A senior walking down the street with groceries or, I don’t know, a kid on the way to school?”

Cook faces eight charges for incidents alleged to have happened between June and September. The charges include assault with a weapon, four counts of assault, two counts of mischief under $5,000 and breaching a court order to report to police.

None of the allegations have been proven in court.

In the first incident, which occurred around 8 p.m. on June 12, Cook allegedly smashed the driver’s side window of a vehicle parked in downtown Brandon, resulting in the driver having glass embedded in his skin, Crown attorney Reid Girard said.

The victim told police he was sitting in his vehicle outside a church on Ninth Street when a man in a wheelchair, who has one leg, hit his window.

The man “ignored this individual (and) continued looking through his contacts on his phone. At which point, this male grabbed an item off the ground and hit (the victim’s) driver’s side window again, resulting in it smashing,” Girard said.

The driver then reversed out of his parking spot and left the scene because he felt afraid, the Crown said.

He parked his vehicle along 25th Street and called 911. Police and paramedics responded and provided the driver with medical aid before taking him to the hospital, Girard said.

When the victim was released, he saw the suspect again and took a photo to show police, who later identified the man as Cook and issued a warrant for his arrest.

Police arrested Cook on June 18 and then released him on a notice to appear in court on a future date.

Around 9:15 p.m. on Sept. 17, police were called to the Royal Bank of Canada on Rosser Avenue for a report of a smashed window. A witness told police a man with one leg in a wheelchair had used a 12-inch piece of rebar to break the window.

Girard said police had dealt with Cook earlier that evening in relation to him possessing a metal bar. Officers arrested Cook two days later and released him on an undertaking.

Cook then allegedly failed to report to police on Sept. 21 involving a court order, was arrested the following day and later released.

On Sept. 25, police received a report from a Superstore employee who claimed a man swore at him before repeatedly punching him in the back while he was retrieving shopping carts in the parking lot.

The employee pushed the suspect away, who was later identified as Cook, before he tried striking the victim with a 12-inch piece of rebar, Girard said.

The employee used a motorized cart retriever to create distance between himself and Cook, who continued to swing the weapon, damaging the machine, the Crown said. The employee didn’t have any significant injuries and didn’t require medical treatment.

Police issued a warrant for his arrest.

Four days after the incident, Cook was involved in multiple assaults within a short time frame, Girard said.

Around noon, a bus security officer notified police about two men who were fighting, with one of the suspects carrying a metal pole.

When police arrived at the scene, Cook denied the assault, saying that it had only been a verbal argument, and no charges were laid.

About 15 minutes later, Cook allegedly struck a Samaritan House shelter worker in the face after he became upset his food items were put into a plastic bag instead of a cloth one and was asked to leave.

When Cook left the building, he yelled at a man — who was also coming into the shelter for food — and hit him in the back of the head, the Crown said. Cook then went to the Helping Hands soup kitchen on Seventh Street in his wheelchair and called an employee inappropriate names as she handed him and others a bagged lunch.

“He made a comment to her and to those two male clients that he could hurt them, and he made a motion to reach for something under his cushion,” Girard said.

“She indicated that one week prior, Mr. Cook had done the exact same thing, pulling out a piece of rebar approximately one foot in length and threatened another employee.”

When one of the clients told Cook not to harm anyone, he stood up and made a fist as if to punch him, Girard said.

Cook was arrested later that day for all three incidents and released from custody; however, he was re-arrested on Tuesday based on the warrant from the Sept. 25 assault, which brought him before the court.

“He is really a threat to anybody he comes into contact with when he is in … a randomly violent mood,” Girard said.

“Given the amount of violence that he’s engaged in over the last couple of months, the Crown is of the view this is a pattern that is going to continue into the future.”

Defence lawyer Anthony Dawson said his client had a difficult upbringing and is currently experiencing homelessness and issues with addiction.

“He tells me he’s very prepared to follow every single condition the courts put him on … that he will not get into any trouble,” Dawson said.

The proposed conditions included providing $750 cash, a weapons prohibition, not contacting the complainants and abstaining from alcohol.

The judge said the conditions were insufficient to mitigate the risk to public safety and denied his release.

Cook’s next court date is scheduled for Nov. 3.

» tadamski@brandonsun.com