TORONTO, March 18 (UPI) -- A murder and assault trial for three Canadian military reservists began in Toronto with prosecutors alleging a homeless man was kicked like a football.
Brian Deganis, 24; Jeffery Hall, 24; and Mountaz Ibrahim, 25, pleaded innocent to second-degree murder in Paul Croutch's death and to assault causing bodily harm to a woman who tried to help the homeless man.
The 59-year-old man with heart and lung disease was sleeping on a bench wrapped in garbage bags overnight on Aug. 31, 2005, outside a Toronto armory, the Toronto Star reported.
Prosecutors allege the three trained combat soldiers began battering him.
"Mr. Croutch was kicked ... like a football -- so hard that his body was being lifted off the ground, until it finally came to rest several feet behind the bench," assistant Crown Attorney Hank Goody told the court Monday.
Passerby Valerie Valen yelled at the attackers to stop and threatened to call 911, although she didn't have a cell phone, Goody said.
She was then allegedly knocked down, beaten and dragged through the park, the prosecutor said.
