Jon Nazca/Reuters
A two-week trial began Monday in a Kamloops, B.C., courtroom for an international student accused of jabbing a pool cue into the eye of a fellow student.
The Nov. 4, 2012, attack in a Kamloops nightclub left the victim, another international student in his late 20s, with a severe brain injury.
The man needed several brain surgeries and was not released from hospital until this spring, but has since made a remarkable recovery and expects to return to his studies at Thompson Rivers University this fall.
Saudi Arabian Yousef Almotairi, who was 26 at the time of the incident, is charged with aggravated assault and assault with a weapon, and his trial is being heard by a B.C. Supreme Court judge alone.
Witnesses reported a fight broke out in the nightclub and Almotairi was punched before the victim was hit in the eye with the point of the pool cue.
A defence lawyer has already said Almotairi will likely be deported to Saudi Arabia if he is convicted.