The scene took place outside of the Firkin Pub in Richmond Hill, a township that’s part of the Greater Toronto Area, in the early morning hours of April 15. Const. Andy Pattenden said they are releasing the surveillance video to help generate leads in the case.
In the video, released Wednesday, the 22-year-old woman is punched so hard she was knocked to the ground. She had to be taken to hospital and while no longer in hospital, Const. Pattenden said she has yet to fully recover from her injuries in the 5 months since the attack. He did not reveal the nature of her injuries.
The incident began inside the pub and spilled outside. Police were called and said when they arrived shortly thereafter, at about 3 a.m., they found multiple people injured to various degrees.
It’s unclear what involvement the woman had in the dispute, if any, and the video clearly shows that she was not an aggressor and was not able to even fight back against her assailants. The two did not know one another.
The man wanted is described as being between 25 and 30 with a medium build and black hair; he is dark-skinned and his ethnicity may be South Asian. He is seen punching her full in the face, knocking her down, and he whips her with a belt. Another man also strikes her.
Police say they are not getting co-operation from others who were part of the brawl. “It’s quite a vicious assault,” Pattenden said. “We’ve been working hard to try to identify who this person is but at this point we’ve been unable to.”
