Valerie Valen testified she was in Moss Park looking for a friend sometime after 1 a.m. on August 31, 2005, when she heard the commotion.

Asked what was being said, she responded: 'F---king druggies, bums and f---ing bums. At first it was just one voice, it was pretty loud. I was able to hear from 20 to 30 feet away (and) the voice was very angry,' said Valen.

It's alleged the three accused, Jeffrey Hall, Mountaz Ibrahim and Brian Deganis, all in their twenties and all charged with second-degree murder, beat Paul Croutch, 59, on Aug. 31, 2005 as he lay sleeping on a bench in Moss Park, near the downtown armoury. He died in hospital.

The Crown believes the three accused attacked Valen after she saw them beating Croutch, a man she knew to be homeless.

Although the defence pointed out it was dark and there was pouring rain, she said there were small lights surrounding the park and she had a 'clear view of what was going on' and saw 'three young men hitting and football-kicking a sleeping bag containing Mr. Crouch.'

She testified they beat Crouch for three to five minutes and stopped only when she called out to the men: '`What the hell are you doing? He's an old man. I'm going to call 911. What could he possibly have done''?

Valen testified the men told her to `get the hell out of the park' and to `mind her own f---king business' before they kicked her legs out from underneath her, pushed her and knocked her to the ground.

'What, you beat up an old man, now you're going to beat up a woman''? Valen said she told the men.

Now realizing she was a woman, Valen testified that one of the men responded by saying, 'You're a dyke and you don't mean anything anyway.'

After this they told to get up and start running, before knocking her down again. This happened several times, she said.

'I feared for my life,' Valen said as she rubbed at her eyes, becoming tearful as she recounted the memories of the night.

She told the court that most of the beating inflicted upon her was carried out by Ibrahim and Hall, while Deganis put his military dog tags in her face and said, 'We own this park. This gives us the right to kill all the homeless derelicts.'

Valen said she eventually got up again and scrambled to safety on Queen St. She testified that when she turned around, the three men had disappeared into the armoury.

An admitted drug addict, Valen said she was receiving treatment for her addiction to opium at the time.

She also admitted to smoking pot and drinking in the park hours earlier, but said the effects had worn off and she was 'sober.'

Her time on the stand is expected to wrap up tomorrow.

Deganis, Hall and Ibrahim were at the armoury that night after the previous witness to take the stand, Major Peter St. Denis, had hosted a farewell dinner at a restaurant on The Esplanade for a group of visiting German soldiers.

St. Denis, who was a police officer in Peel for 16 years, told the jury that Deganis and Hall seemed intoxicated when he returned to Moss Park. Both smelled of alcohol, had bloodshot eyes and Deganis, in particular, had a "blank" look like the "lights are on and nobody's home," the young men's lawyer, J.J.Burke said, prompting an agreeing nod from St. Denis.

The three are also charged with assault causing bodily harm. They've pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

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