In the days prior to being attacked with a baseball bat, 80-year-old Gerald McDonald rode his Harley, painted the family house in North Delta and attended a wedding.
Two weeks later, on Oct. 4, he died in his favourite chair.
?He sat in his chair and tried to get better, and last Tuesday morning we found him and he was gone,? said his 19-year-old granddaughter, Hailey Melissa McDonald, on Thursday.
?I truly believe we could?ve had another at least five to 10 years with him left,? she said, from the kitchen of the family home Gerald built over 40 years ago.
On the evening of Sept. 20, the family alleges that Gerald?s son David McDonald, 48, was walking his dogs in the North Delta neighbourhood when a verbal altercation between himself and two young adults, aged 18 and 19, escalated.
Shortly thereafter, the family says four individuals appeared at the McDonald home, allegedly vandalizing two vehicles before getting into a scuffle with David.
Gerald could see the altercation through the living room window and told the perpetrators to get off his property ? at which point the family says he was attacked with punches, kicks and strikes from a baseball bat to his torso, legs and arms.
David suffered bruising to his arms and a chipped elbow after deflecting a swing that was allegedly aimed for Gerald?s head.
The elderly man sustained black eyes, bruising and lacerations to his face, arms and legs.
?He was 80 but he wasn?t frail. After this happened, things went downhill so fast.?
Gerald, a proud man, begrudgingly saw his family doctor soon after the attack and was recommended to nurse his wounds in the very spot he died.
Charges are pending against the assailants until a coroner?s report is released in approximately six weeks' time, Delta police said Thursday.
?Once we get the report back from the coroner, we will be able to determine if there is linkage [to his death],? said Const. Ciaran Feenan.
If Gerald had not died two weeks after the attack, charges would already have been forwarded, Feenan confirmed.
Hailey said the family is unsure whether justice will be served in the death of their patriarch.
?All I want is pressure to be put on our authorities to increase these charges, because I don?t want this to happen to anybody else,? said Hailey. ?You don?t beat up old people.?
A Facebook page and group created in Gerald?s honour has over 500 members.
Hailey said Gerald, a former post office worker, would like to be remembered as a loving grandfather who, along with his wife Betty, helped raise nine grandkids.
? On Sunday, an 83-year-old man died in Chilliwack hours after he got into a neighbourhood dispute over ?leaves,? a neighbour told The Province.
Chilliwack RCMP continue to investigate whether there is a connection between the dispute and the death.
mraptis@theprovince.com
twitter.com/mike_raptis
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Source: http://feeds.canada.com/~r/canwest/F228/~3/KxUq-0lv8SM/story.html
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