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The disturbed man who launched a brutal and unprovoked daytime assault on a defenceless Windsor senior a yr in the past was the precise kind of tragic downtown determine the sufferer was attempting to assist.
In accordance with her kids, Sin Ja Tune, 85, labored exhausting to place human faces to the characters — battling psychological sickness, habit and homelessness — who may make her fellow neighbours within the downtown scared of Windsor’s streets.
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“She was serving to out, she was very lively with the marginalized, the individuals we name ‘neighbours with no fastened handle,’” son Alex Tune advised the Star.
“She was an individual who beloved to assist individuals, she was very concerned,” added daughter Sabina Tune. For the retired nurse and enterprise entrepreneur, that included being lively with the Downtown Windsor Group Collaborative, a non-profit whose purpose is “creating and supporting a loving group” by reaching out and dealing with these residing within the core.
As a part of her routine to begin day-after-day, Sin Ja Tune departed the Victoria Avenue dwelling she shared together with her son and his household for a typical five-kilometre stroll, one which often included a go to to the downtown riverfront. The senior was on the return leg that Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023, morning when she was viciously attacked from behind by an entire stranger within the 300 block of Ouellette Avenue.
The defence lawyer for George Vassilodimitrakis advised the decide at a current sentencing listening to that his homeless consumer, 37 on the time and shunned by household for his drug habit, was listening to voices and seeing individuals when he lashed out at his unsuspecting and weak goal.
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If it hadn’t been for 2 passersby who witnessed what Sabina describes as a “very cowardly assault,” and screamed on the attacker to get off the aged girl on the bottom, the Tune kids consider their mom would have been killed that day. The Good Samaritans chased the suspect away however he was quickly arrested.
Alex Tune, who lives and works downtown and is mates with Ward 3 Coun. Renaldo Agostino, mentioned the municipal politician who represents downtown on metropolis council shortly secured surveillance digital camera footage from a close-by bar.
“He wished to catch this man. However he advised me, ‘Alex, you don’t wish to see this.’ It’s been so troublesome — I’m attempting to dam this from my reminiscence,” Alex mentioned.
After 10 months behind bars in pre-sentence custody, Vassilodimitrakis, who pleaded responsible to a lesser cost of assault inflicting bodily hurt, was launched on June 13, the identical day as an Ontario Court docket justice introduced his sentence. He stays on probation for 3 years throughout which he’s been ordered to obtain supervised psychological well being and addictions therapy and counselling.
However because the assault’s anniversary approaches, Sin Ja Tune and her household proceed to dwell with the horrible aftermath of that random, mindless crime.
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“I’m grieving the lack of my mom — of the particular person she was,” mentioned Alex Tune.
Sin Ja Tune suffered a extreme concussion, damaged ribs and enamel and a fractured shoulder. There have been a number of visits and lengthy stays in hospital over the previous yr, and she or he’s at the moment in rehab at Resort-Dieu Grace Healthcare after her newest mind surgical procedure.
The household stays “optimistic and hopeful” however cautions they don’t harbour “unrealistic expectations.” There stay large challenges forward, notably with Sin Ja Tune’s cognitive perform or psychological processes.
Sabina mentioned her mom typically forgets members of the family, together with her daughter and son-in-law who at the moment dwell within the U.S. It may be upsetting and horrifying for the three grandchildren, ages eight, 12 and 15, who all grew up together with her of their Windsor dwelling.
“She’s a girl who learn her Bible day-after-day, however not now,” Sabina mentioned. “I don’t assume she’s speaking to mates — (and at occasions) she will’t bear in mind her household.”
Dementia can have an effect on the aged and isn’t unusual, however Sabina mentioned medical doctors “suspect one thing extra is happening,” given the sudden, relatively than gradual, onset of signs in somebody who had been bodily wholesome and mentally sharp — that’s, till Aug. 1.
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Alex Tune’s skilled work as an operations director with the Downtown Windsor Group Collaborative exposes him to the challenges going through a number of the metropolis’s most weak. However processing the assault “was very exhausting at first. I used to be very offended, shell-shocked … with questions round ‘Why do I do what I do?’”
He tells himself if it hadn’t been his mom, it might have been another person. Alex mentioned he’s not a lot offended on the perpetrator — “there’s no reply to taking place that rabbit gap” — however relatively feels “actually deep frustration” with the state of affairs in Windsor’s downtown core.
“This has modified my mom’s life, and there’s a particular person in charge — however I can’t select that route,” he mentioned.
Within the household’s day by day hospital visits, Alex mentioned one thought is at all times uppermost on his mom’s thoughts: “All she needs after we go to is for us to guarantee her she’s coming dwelling. My mom is adamant — she doesn’t wish to go to a long-term care facility.
“We’ll maintain that promise.”
But it surely’s an costly pledge, one which could be a wrestle for the household given the quantity of care — and the prices — now required.
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To help in holding that promise, the household has launched a fundraising drive on the GoFundMe crowdfunding web site. As of noon Tuesday, greater than $10,000 in the direction of a $50,000 objective had been reached.
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“You may’t simply hand over,” Agostino advised the Star just lately of efforts underway to deal with a number of the points going through downtown Windsor. Opiate and different drug habit, psychological sickness, the housing affordability disaster — they’re all challenges confronting many different cities.
“I believe our efforts up to now have been improbable,” Agostino mentioned of such current initiatives as getting extra police strolling the downtown beat.
The answer and the purpose, he added, is to create “a livelier, busier core,” with extra individuals interacting and holding an eye fixed out for one another.
dschmidt@postmedia.com
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