‘I am changed forever’ testifies Calgary professor at trial of man accused of violent attack

Tuesday was day one of the trial for Matthew Brown, who was accused of breaking into Hamnett’s Springbank home where she lived alone.

Hamnett is a professor at Mount Royal University. Brown was a student at the school at the time of the attack and was once the captain of the MRU hockey team. The two are not believed to have known each other prior to the incident.

Hamnett testified that she remembered dropping to her knees and putting her arms up in self defence when the attack began. She said she remembers the attacker was screaming “loudly,” wordlessly, while hitting her with an object. The screams were almost like an animal “roar,” she testified.

“Please God, let it stop,” she told the court she remembered thinking at the time.

When the attack stopped, Hamnett said she made her way to the bathroom where she said she saw “blood everywhere,” splattered all over the floor and sink. She said she realized the blood was coming from her and pulled a towel over one of the gashes on her arms.

“I was shaking from head to toe,” she testified, adding that she heard the attacker making noise upstairs, then quietness.

She said she “gingerly opened the door,” and saw that the sliding doors leading outside her complex had been shattered. She said she closed the bathroom door again, took a deep breath, thought to herself “go for it,” then ran through the broken doors and to her neighbours’ home.

She testified that she rang the doorbell until her neighbours answered, and that they let her in and called 911. A broken broom handle was found in her home by police and taken as evidence.

According to an agreed statement of facts, Hamnett was taken to Rocky View Hospital, where she was treated for multiple injuries, including cuts and bruises to her arms.

She said the injuries to her arm made it difficult to get dressed and drive. She testified that as a result of the incident, she went on leave from teaching and her colleagues had to take over her classes.

Hamnett added that she still has to go to physiotherapy for her right hand, which is now a permanent disability according to the agreed upon facts. She also testified that she suffers from anxiety among other psychological symptoms.

“I am changed forever,” she told the court, adding she is now back teaching — an “enormous achievement for me.”

Hamnett’s neighbour, Michael Crone, testified that he woke to the sound of his doorbell and found Hamnett at his door.

Crone said he saw a naked man running through the street, rummaging through vehicles. He told the court he went outside and took photos of the man, who appeared to be either having a breakdown or intoxicated.

Pratap and Kamlesh Varshney both testified on Tuesday that their Springbank home had been broken into that evening.

Pratap described how the glass in his front door had been shattered and a chair from his porch was found laying atop pieces of glass in the front entrance.

He said there were droplets of blood in the house and testified that when police arrived, they found a person in the guest bedroom. He said police escorted the person out wearing a blanket.

Claire Erickson testified Tuesday that she knew Brown through mutual friends and had attended a party he was also at on the night of the alleged attack.

She said she and a group of people were at a home in Springbank casually drinking alcohol and playing games. She testified that she saw drugs — magic mushrooms — in a plastic sandwich bag on the kitchen counter, but did not see anyone consume them. However, she said she was told the “boys” had taken some, including Brown.

She testified that she noticed Brown wasn’t being himself — that though he was normally “the life of the party,” that evening he was being reclusive.

She said that as people were settling in to watch a movie, Brown was at the door, naked, and ran out of the house. She said the group bundled up and went looking for him and after about 10 minutes of searching, they called 911.

She described Brown as honest and respectful and said it was “almost laughable” to associate violence with him.

Brown is facing charges of break and enter and committing mischief. Criminal defence lawyer Sean Fagan is representing Brown.

After Tuesday’s testimony, Fagan said he couldn’t comment on his planned defence for Brown, though he did say he had successfully challenged the court last month to allow extreme intoxication as a defence.

The case is before Justice Michele H. Hollins.