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Still paying the price for turning the other cheek (4 photos)

In this Following Up feature we track the trials and tribulations of Kent Smith who is still suffering physically and mentally from injuries he received from an assault in August 2003

University of Guelph student Kent Smith had plenty of reasons to be happy and hopeful when he went out with friends on the night of Aug. 15, 2003. 

“I had just finished the exams for the summer semester about four days earlier,” said Smith. “A couple friends asked me if I would want to go out to see a couple of bands.”

They checked out the bands at a few different clubs downtown before calling it a night and going their separate ways. Smith was crossing Wyndham Street heading east on Macdonell when he was attacked from behind.  

“I woke up talking to a police officer and it took me a while to realise that I was laying on the ground and had been injured,” said Smith. “I tried to stand up but the officer told me to lay down. Paramedics were on their way. From there it was a whirlwind. There were medical professionals flying around and off I went into surgery.”

The injuries to his face were extensive. His jaw had been shattered and dislocated and he lost 11 teeth. There was nerve damage and other complications that still affect his vision and hearing today.  

“I was in surgery for about 10 hours and in ICU for almost a week,” said Smith. “Ten days later the one side of my face came undone. The plate didn’t hold so I had to go back in for another surgery.”

Before the attack Smith had been a model student, making the dean’s list four times. He was determined to continue his studies when the semester started Aug. 26.

“I started school hoping for something familiar to keep me grounded but things started to snowball,” he said. “My jaw was wired shut and I just came out of surgery. Come about Thanksgiving I was struggling to keep up so I dropped out of the semester. I was having symptoms of what I didn’t know at that time was PTSD.”

It was also the start of his money problems with the provincial and national student loan programs. 

“When I dropped out I was then informed by OSAP and financial services that I would have to pay for a year of schooling on my own before I could receive OSAP again,” he said. “That was my only source of income and I was still seeing a maxillofacial surgeon that wasn’t covered by OHIP.”

Smith’s medical bills soared to more than $30,000 over the following months. 

“By that January I was tapped out financially and then came the court case in March,” he said. 

The court heard that on the night of the assault Smith had a minor altercation with a group of young men. One of them made a snide remark about Smith’s hair that was long and pulled back behind his ears. Smith walked away from the men and was halfway across Wyndham when he sensed someone was behind him.  

“I spun around and it was the guy who made the comment about my hair,” said Smith. “I could see I surprised him when I spun around and I said, ‘Listen I don’t want any problems. I am just heading home and you should do the same’ He turned around and walked away and I did the same.”

A cab driver witnessed the assault and called 911. He told police that another member of the group rushed Smith from behind and punched him in the back of the head. The blow sent Smith face first into the curb. The attacker, a 17-year-old young offender, who was known to police, was charged with aggravated assault. He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of assault causing bodily harm.

The newly amended Youth Criminal Justice Act that came into effect less than a year earlier prevented Justice Gary F. Hearn from ordering a prison sentence. He gave him 18 months probation and 100 hours of community service with conditions that he stay in school and seek anger-management counseling. 

He was also ordered to pay $5,000 in damages to Smith, whose medical bills were estimated at $38,000. 

Smith agreed with efforts to rehabilitate his attacker and keep him in school but he also recognised the bitter irony that his victim, as a result of the assault, could no longer afford to stay in school. 

“The judgement of the court was that we can’t expect a 17-year-old to come up with $38,000, yet they expect the victim who was doing their degree at the time to come up with $38,000,” said Smith. “I don’t see how it should fall on me. I was sentenced that day too.”

When Smith was unable to make payments on his $26,000 student debt, the file was turned  over to a collection agency. 

He was forced to abandon his academic plans and took a job with an irrigation company.

“I met Kristina in 2007 and we decided I should go back to school and at least get my undergrad,” said Smith.  “We pooled our money and paid it ourselves and I got my undergrad. I did so well a lot of the profs suggested I get my masters.” 

He was then encouraged to get his PhD and won a $35,000 entrance scholarship.

But outstanding issues with his previous student loans ate up a portion of that scholarship and other grants that Smith has earned for his studies.

He is unable to collect the grants or any other grants he might win in the future until he pays off $18,000 in accrued interest from the original $26,000. 

He said he also has mounting medical costs for ongoing treatment to rebuild and relocate his jaw.  

Smith has a sensitivity to light and his ear canals are impacted by his dislocated jaw affecting his hearing. 

They started a GoFundMe page to help pay his medical bills.

“When I put the GoFundMe up and posted it on several different crowdfund pages, people were commenting, ‘Isn’t healthcare free in Canada?’,” said Kristina. “Healthcare is free in Canada as long as it doesn’t include your head apparently because if it is dental or mental it’s not covered.”

Smith has taken a leave of absence from his PhD studies to undergo further treatments and is recovering from surgery Jan. 7 that involved bone grafting and installing implants to strengthen and re-align his jaw. Some of if was covered by OHIP.

He suffers from depression and anxiety associated with PTSD but struggles to be positive for Kristina and their two young children.

His PhD research has been influenced by his own experience.     

“I am studying English literature and my focus is on how storytelling transfers trauma,” said Smith. “I am studying how we can read trauma through storytelling.”

No one can say he doesn’t have a story to tell.