A soldier from Edmonton, Canada has been jailed for ‘Superman-punching’ a gay man in a nightclub.
25-year-old Cpl. Michael Tscherkassow was sentenced to twelve months in prison, yesterday, for assaulting Cody Garbutt in an Edmonton gay bar. Tscherkassow boasted about the attack on Facebook the next day, saying that he had ‘Superman-punched’ someone.
Tscherkassow apologised to his victim in court earlier this week, saying that he was now a “different person”. He has been ordered to submit a DNA sample to Canada’s DNA databank and banned from possessing firearms for ten years.
He was charged with aggravated assault in October last year, for the attack at the Play Nightclub in 2009.
The attack took place when Garbutt and his friend Tyler MacMillan, both gay men, had been leaving the club’s dance floor. MacMillan testified that he saw Tscherkassow punch Garbutt in the face.
The nightclub owner, Courtney Lariviere, testified that she heard someone scream, “f***ing hetero” before the punch was dealt, something that was used in Tscherkassow’s defense.
Garbutt suffered from a broken jaw, a broken nose and a fractured eye socket. He was hospitalised for a week and he told the court that he now suffers from sleeping problems and anxiety.
