Raine pleads guilty to pushing senior onto tracks at Edmonton LRT station

A man who shoved an elderly woman onto LRT tracks, shattering her leg in what police called an unprovoked attack, has pleaded guilty to aggravated assault.

Security video showing Kendall Raine, 20, pushing Sharda Naidu Devi, 78, was played in court Wednesday.

He attacked her at the Health Sciences/Jubilee LRT station at 83 Avenue and 114 Street on April 25, leaving her injured on the tracks as a train approached. It stopped and emergency crews rescued her.

The injuries were so severe that Devi's family worried she may need to have her leg amputated. She is said to be healing, but has launched a lawsuit against the city and the transit service.

Prosecutors told court that Raine attacked Devi because she was looking at him and "pissing him off."

Raine also pleaded guilty to assault with a weapon in another transit incident.

Court heard that a day after the attack on Devi, he threatened a man with a knife and bear spray at Churchill LRT Station after taking the guitar of a busker.

Raine didn’t end up using either of those weapons but both items were later found in his possession.

He is expected to be sentenced Jan. 6, after a Gladue Report, which takes into account his Indigenous upbringing, is filed with the court.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's David Ewasuk