Paxton checked in to motel with mute, limping man

A Calgary motel owner and nurse says that when Dustin Paxton and his alleged victim showed up at her motel she urged Paxton to take the man to the hospital.

"I said he should be in the hospital instead of here," Sukhdev Cheema, a registered nurse who owns a Calgary Traveller's Inn, testified in court Thursday.

Paxton, who is on trial for the physical and sexual assault and unlawful confinement of his former roommate and business partner, refused, said Cheema.

"[Paxton] said he just came back, he just got discharged from the hospital, and 'that's why I want him to stay here so I can take care of him.'"

Cheema told court that Paxton and the injured man checked in to her Calgary motel in February 2010.

Paxton's alleged victim, who cannot be named, could hardly walk, was bruised, cut and had swollen cheeks, she said.

Cheema testified the man with Paxton did not say anything when the pair checked in. She said Paxton told her the man was unable to speak because he was in a lot of pain.

"I asked Dustin Paxton what happened to [the injured man]? And he said he's having lots of falls and is hurt from them," said Cheema.

In the week the men stayed in the two-bedroom room, Cheema said she heard what sounded like a man falling on several occasions.

The two men checked out March 3, she said.

A month later, Paxton's alleged victim was dropped off at a Regina hospital brain damaged and weighing only 87 pounds down from 210 pounds. He had several broken bonesand his lips and tongue had been mutilated.

Defence questions motive of witness

During cross-examination of one of Paxton'sformer employees, David Batista, the defence suggested he did nothing to help the man who was living with Paxton until it meant something to him.

Paxton's lawyer, Jim Lutz, suggested Batista only called police to report an assault because Paxton still owed him money.

Lutz also said he wondered why Batista didn't check on Paxton's alleged victim in September 2009, when Paxton apparently called an ambulance.

Batista said he "didn't need to be there for the drama."

Thetorture victim is expected totake the witness box on Monday and Tuesday. By the time the five-weektrial finishes, Court of Queen's BenchJustice Sheilah Martin will have seen 50 witnesses.

The trial will continue Monday.