SAULT STE. MARIE — Joel Sandie was acting in self-defence when he struck another man with a golf club during a much-publicized altercation at a Sault golf course last year, a judge has ruled.
Ontario Court Justice Heather Mendes recently found the former junior hockey player not guilty of assault with a weapon and dismissed the charge.
The Sept. 2, 2023 charge stemmed from an incident involving an injured seagull that occurred on the 16th hole at the Sault Ste. Marie Golf Club.
The altercation was caught on a five-second video that went viral.
During a trial that took place over four days this year, the court heard from the complainant John Prgomet, his son Jayce and two golf club employees — one of whom started recording the video when she realized the confrontation was escalating.
Sandie, 51, and his partner Michelle Blake also testified about what had occurred that evening.
The video showed Sandie yelling "'I'm f...ing going to kill you" as he chases Jayce across a tee-block with a golf club, then swings it at John, 56, and strikes the senior Prgomet.
"Unfortunately" the five seconds doesn't show the entire interaction, the judge noted.
It didn't capture the lead-up to the altercation, including why Sandie ran after the young man with the club and that he said: "If you hit the ball I'm going to f...ing kill you."
Sandie and Blake found the injured seagull in the 16th fairway and contacted the clubhouse for assistance.
Two teenaged workers were dispatched to where Blake was attending to the seagull.
They asked other golfers to skip the hole, but the Prgomets did not.
Jayce, 19, insisted on playing, began taking practice swings and it looked like he was going to hit the ball down the fairway.
When his father tried to diffuse the situation, the young man didn't listen when John told him to play around the hole.
Court heard Sandie was yelling that the teen was going to hit his partner with his tee shot.
Things escalated, heated words were exchanged and Sandie ran after Jayce with the golf club. He then struck John, who had tried to intervene.
"When he came by me I put my arm out to try and block him," John testified during the trial. "I turned around and he hit my left arm, just below the elbow, as well as just above my hip bone."
When Mendes released her decision Friday, she described Jayce's behaviour as escalating and threatening.
The force used by Sandie was "reasonable" in a situation that escalated in a short period of time, she said, concluding he had acted in self-defence.
