Beating case delayed as victim awakes
Beating case delayed as victim awakes - The Toronto Star - Saturday, October 9, 1999
by Kelly Hudson - York Region Bureau
A pretrial hearing for three youths, charged with attempted murder in the beating of a Newmarket teen, has been delayed
because the victim recently emerged from a three-month coma.
Not only is Jonathan Wamback out of his coma and alert and conscious, but he went home yesterday for Thanksgiving weekend.
His parents rented an ambulance, a hospital bed and other equipment to care for their only son.
It will be the first time Jonathan has been home since he was attacked on June 29.
For the Wambacks, who have been at their son's side since the attack, it will truly be a Thanksgiving weekend.
"Every day, he gets better," Joseph Wamback, Jonathan's dad, said yesterday.
If all goes well, Jonathan won't got back to the Bloorview MacMillan Centre until Monday. "We will be giving thanks like never
before in our lives, like we never believed was possible," his dad said.
Jonathan, who was partially paralyzed just a week ago, can now move all four limbs. He took his first steps with a walker on
Monday.
'He took 10 steps. Very wobbly. Very hard. His face was red. You
could tell he was in pain, but he had a grin from ear to ear.'
- Joseph Wamback
Jonathan's father
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"He took 10 steps. Very wobbly. Very hard. His face was red. You could tell he was in pain, but he had a grin from ear to
ear," said Wamback, 53.
Jonathan was beaten about the head at Ken Sturgeon Park. He managed to walk home, but slipped into a coma several hours later.
He spent 16 days on life support.
He is in rehab at the Bloorview, where he is expected to remain for at least six months.
Yesterday in Newmarket Court, where the three accused made a brief appearance, Crown Attorney Mary Lou Dickie told Mr. Justice
William Wolski that it would be premature to proceed with the hearing in light of Wamback's improved condition, which changes
"the complexity of the crown's case."
His alleged attackers, 16 and 17, cannot be named under the Young Offenders Act.
"We're waiting until we have a little more information," Dickie told the court.
The judge agreed and put the case over to Nov. 18.
"It seems like a rational approach to the changing medical condition of the crown's key witness," Wolski said.
Jonathan was to give a statement to York Region detectives last night at his Newmarket home. It would have been the first time
he'd spoken about the incident to police, his dad said.
His son remembers what happened, Wamback said.
"His long-term and short-term memory is better than mine."
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