Witness breaks down at subway pushing trial

A witnessbroke down while testifying Tuesday at the trial of a man accused of pushing two teenage boys onto the tracks at the Dufferin subway station in Torontolast year.

Adenir De Oliveira, 47, is charged with three counts of attempted murder and two counts of assault.

Three teensall in Grade 9 at the time were standing on the subway platform on Feb. 13, 2009, when a man approached without saying a word and pushed them. One boy was able to avoid falling onto the tracks.

Russell Cormier, 49, was a TTC employee working at the stationat the time the incident happened and called 911.He cried Tuesday as a tape of that call was played in Ontario Superior Court.

"He pushed kids on the platform in front of a train," Cormier said in the call. "He pushed kids in front of the subway."

Cormier said he made the call while chasing De Oliveira down Dufferin Street.

"I was just thinking that he can't get away," he said. "It was just my instinct to just go after him."

Cormier testified that De Oliveira then sat down outside a restaurant just before police arrived.

"He was mumbling, but when the police officer showed up, [the man] said he tried to get help, [that]he went to the doctor, he went to the hospital, he tried to get medication," Cormier said. "He said nobody would help."

Teens testify

The three boys at the centre of the case Asif Shargall, Jacob Greenspon and Antony Zelenka also testified on Tuesday.

Zelenka now 16 told the court someone pushed his two friends onto the tracks and tried to push him as well but that he was able to avoid falling to the tracks.

He then saw Shargall pull Greenspon under the lip of the platform just as a train was pulling into the station.

Zelenka said he thought the man who pushed them had mental health issues.

"He wasn't looking at me; he was looking through me," Zelenka said.

Both boys who fell on the tracks were injured. Greenspon had to have two toes amputated, and Shargall hurt his knee.

The court also saw surveillance images taken at Dufferin station that day. They show De Oliveira following close behind as the boys head down to the platform of the station.

Witnesses told local mediaat the time that the manappeared agitated on the platform and pushed the youths unprovoked.

De Oliveira's lawyer doesn't dispute his client pushed theteens onto the tracks but argues the question is whether De OliveirA should be held criminally responsible for his actions.