Spice victim bore ‘startling resemblance’ to car thief, defence lawyer argues
Naveen Polapady, owner of Maroli Indian Kerala Cuisine on Bloor Street West in Toronto, poses for a photograph at his second restaurant in Brampton, On., on Wednesday, April 25, 2012.
For the first time publicly, Manuel Belo — the 51-year-old who infamously received a faceful of masala spices when Mr. Polapady mistook him for a car thief — told his side of the story, describing how he began the morning of Aug. 21, 2011, on his bicycle, scavenging for bottles and cans to supplement his modest bricklayer’s income. He had just finished scanning the parking lot behind Maroli restaurant on Bloor Street, when out of nowhere he felt a substance “like spaghetti sauce watered down” thrown into his face.
“My vision was impaired. My breathing was impaired,” said Mr. Belo, a reformed crack addict who was once jailed for stealing copper wire and subsequently began volunteering at a local food bank.
“It was thrown directly over my face, all over my head… It went in my eyes, it went in my mouth [and] I couldn’t see anything at all,” Mr. Belo told Mr. Polapady’s assault trial. “My eyes were stinging.”
It became difficult to breathe, he added, as each gulp of air felt “like swallowing hot coals.” His first reaction was shock.
“I was just surprised,” he testified. “I didn’t realize what was going on.”
The precursor to the spice-hurling incident came four days earlier, when convicted thief Jason Mitchell broke into Mr. Polapady’s car to steal several items, including a GPS device and a laptop.
The defence contends Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Belo bore a “startling resemblance” to each other, almost like twins. Summoned to the stand Friday, Toronto Police Const. Shahrukh Mirza agreed they had “certain features” in common; both were white, had receding hairlines and were wearing backpacks and riding bicycles.
So when he found Mr. Belo lurking in the Maroli parking lot on Aug. 21, 2011, Mr. Polapady assumed he had caught the thief red-handed, the court heard. Surveillance footage shows the pair grappling as Mr. Polapady wields a broomstick.
Mr. Belo says he felt his body “being whacked” by that stick moments after the sauce-like spice mixture hit his face.
Whack. ‘Where’s my GPS?’ Whack. ‘Where’s my GPS?’
“I felt the stick break once [on my arm] and then I felt it break again on the other arm,” Mr. Belo testified, noting he pleaded with his attacker to stop, but all the other man said in response was: “Where’s my GPS?”
The stick connected with his legs and arms, Mr. Belo said, and opened a gash in his head that required six stitches.
“I tried to punch him but I couldn’t see where he was too well,” Mr. Belo said, adding he screamed at Mr. Polapady to leave him alone. “[I told him], ‘I’m just collecting empties. I don’t have the GPS. But all I kept getting was: Whack. ‘Where’s my GPS?’ Whack. ‘Where’s my GPS?’”
The two scuffled for a brief period before breaking apart and leaving the area separately, Mr. Belo on his bicycle and Mr. Polapady in his van. As he cycled away, Mr. Belo says he came across a garden hose and used it to wash the red spice mixture from his hair, ears and face.
During cross-examination, defence lawyer Calvin Barry suggested that even though Mr. Belo was not the GPS thief from days earlier, he had indeed attempted to open the back door of Mr. Polapady’s van on Aug. 21, 2011, and was “caught in the act.”
“You lunged at [Mr. Polapady]. To defend himself, he shot that chili pepper in your face,” Mr. Barry asserted.
“No,” Mr. Belo maintained.
“You lunged at him and with your other hand you grabbed at his throat… It’s a full-blown fight,” Mr. Barry said.
Mr. Belo disagreed, maintaining he had only stopped by the Maroli lot to check for bottles and cans. The ensuing struggle prevented him from attending his brick-laying job for a few days, he testified, primarily because of the swelling to his legs.
Ever since that fateful day, Mr. Belo says he has refrained from collecting any stray bottles or cans. Sometimes he comes across empties in the park, but he lets them lie.
“With my luck,” he told the court, “if I bent down to pick it up, squirrels would think I’m trying to steal their chestnuts.”
The trial resumes in June.
