BURST
A pair of immigrants from Syria and Iraq have been convicted of assault causing bodily harm in a British Columbia gym dispute sparked by their victim moving a weight bench.
Ali Alabed and Sa’Ad Munshed were working out together at the Poirier Recreation Centre in Coquitlam, B.C., on Feb. 27, 2024, when Zhe Ming Bryan Wong asked an elderly Asian man who was exercising with dumbbells if the weight bench beside him was free. The man gave him a nod and Wong, a 32-year-old accountant and digital marketer, wheeled the bench to the gym’s cable machine area.
“Mr. Wong then heard someone say, ‘Who the f–k took my bench?’ and he realized that person was yelling at him. There is no issue that the person approaching him was Mr. Munshed,” Judge Gregory J. Brown wrote in a May 27 decision from B.C.’s Provincial Court after viewing surveillance video of the violent scuffle.
Munshed, wearing pajama bottoms and headphones, walked toward Wong “in a strident manner,” said the decision.
Wong started returning the bench.
“At the right top of the video, Mr. Munshed is seen face to face with Mr. Wong. They appear to be in a confrontation, and Mr. Munshed is pointing back to where the bench was first located.”
Munshed testified that Wong “got aggressive and put his hand on” his chest and “pushed him back three or four steps,” saying, “you think you are number one guy in the gym.”
Wong testified that “he feared for his safety but he wanted to stand his ground and not be bullied. He told Mr. Munshed to stop yelling.”
Wong “did not recall raising his middle finger,” toward Munshed.
“The video was blurry on that point, although there is a still photograph from the video that appears to show Mr. Wong’s middle finger raised,” said the decision. “Mr. Wong said raising a middle finger can mean different things.”
After Wong, who was heavier than Munshed, pushed the taller man with his right hand, Munshed moved back a few steps, said the decision.
“A man in a grey hoodie steps in and pushes Mr. Wong back with the back of his hand. Mr. Munshed and Mr. Wong then jostle each other with their hands. Three other men aligned with Mr. Munshed are standing just behind Mr. Wong, Mr. Munshed and the man with the grey hoodie.”
Wong testified that he left the upstairs gym, with Munshed’s “gang of cohorts” following him.
Munshed, and his brother who tried to act as a peacekeeper during the altercation, both testified that it was Wong “who uttered threats, but they both minimized the five-on-one situation, and the video shows Mr. Munshed starting the confrontation upstairs,” the judge noted.
After Munshed and Wong each reported the matter to staffers in the centre’s reception area, they headed back toward the stairway.
Munshed and Alabed “could have easily extricated themselves,” at that point, Brown said.
“Instead of leaving or waiting for Mr. Wong to go up the stairs, the two accused ultimately laid a beating on him.”
As Wong approached the stairs, Munshed got close to him. “Mr. Wong then uses both his arms to push Mr. Munshed towards a wall. Mr. Munshed does not fall,” said the decision.
Alabed, who has boxing experience, then stepped in and pushed Wong. Wong, in turn, pushed Alabed back, then kicked him several times.
“The kicks are with the flat of the foot and do not appear to strike Mr. Alabed with great force,” said the decision.
Alabed then punched Wong in the face three times “and his arm extends fully back for each punch,” said the judge. “By the third punch, Mr. Wong has turned away and his head is facing downwards.”
Munshed then joined in, “punching and shoving” Wong.
“From this point forward, it is a two-on-one scenario for some time,” Brown said.
“Mr. Wong is pushed and pulled by both Mr. Alabed and Mr. Munshed through the hallway towards the locker area. During this time, both accused deliver punches to Mr. Wong’s body and head. Mr. Wong partially falls to the left side of the hallway and he is then pushed against the right side of the hallway. The altercation ends part way down the hallway.”
Wong extended his “arms out defensively to little effect as he is being attacked by the two men. Mr. Wong’s tank top is completely ripped off by the end of the altercation,” said the judge.
Wong felt blood drip down his left eye and felt he was “defending” his life,” said the decision. “He saw the physical altercation escalating.”
The surveillance video shows that when the two men were punching Wong, “his arms were extended but his hands were more open than closed,” said the judge.
Munshed’s group then left the facility. Wong was taken to hospital.
The Crown proved Munshed and Alabed were not acting in self-defence, said the judge.
“It should go without saying that I do not find the overall altercation to be a consensual fight; after some initial jostling, it evolved to an attack on Mr. Wong,” said the judge.
“I am satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Wong suffered bodily harm. Following the assault, he had cracked bones around his eyes, a concussion, and his left eye had to be stitched shut for two weeks. He had bruising to other parts of his body, and he missed a month of work.”
None of the three muscular men knew each other.
Alabed, 22, came to Canada from Syria four years ago.
Munshed, 29, is a permanent resident of Canada who was born in Iraq. He was 14 when he immigrated and now works as a roofer.
“Race may have had a role to play, as each side alleged the other made racial slurs,” Brown said. “More significantly, the events upstairs contributed to the ongoing animosity downstairs. Mr. Munshed was upset Mr. Wong took his bench and some sort of machoism took over from there.”
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