A man who exposed himself to a parent by a Burnaby elementary school in January has been granted a conditional discharge with a year of probation.
On Jan. 13 at 2:47 p.m., Burnaby RCMP got a call from Maywood Community School reporting a “suspicious male” in the alley behind the school who was looking into cars and “lunging at parents who were waiting for their children,” according to agreed facts read out by Crown prosecutor Louise Gauld in Vancouver provincial court Monday.
A parent waiting for his daughter told the suspect, later identified as Eric Charles Narayan, to “go away,” Gauld said.
Narayan did but then came back, and an altercation ensued that ended with the parent holding Narayan on the ground.
The parent wanted to hold him there until police came, but a 911 dispatcher told him to let him go, according to Gauld.
“He released Narayan, who walked away, turned around and pulled his pants down, exposing his penis to (the parent),” Gauld said.
Police arrived shortly after and detained him, and he was charged in March with committing an indecent act in a public place and indecent exhibition in a public place.
Narayan, 37, pleaded guilty Monday to indecent exhibition. The other charge was stayed.
His lawyer, Sarah Grewal, said Narayan “regrets his actions” and said the incident was “out of character for him.”
“He tells me that the offence occurred because he was intoxicated,” Grewal said.
Both lawyers agreed Narayan should be granted a conditional discharge, meaning he will not have a criminal record from the incident if he abides by the terms of his probation.
Both lawyers also agreed those conditions should include bans on Narayan being at Maywood Community School and contacting the parent he exposed himself to.
Gauld said Narayan should also be ordered to get counselling, but Grewal opposed that condition.
She said her client has mental health issues, including schizophrenia, but that he takes his medication regularly and is already getting medical help.
Provincial court Judge James Sutherland agreed a conditional discharge was “in (Narayan’s) interest and not contrary to the public interest.”
He noted Narayan had a criminal record with four drug convictions but those dated back about 15 years.
Sutherland chose not to order counselling for Narayan.
“I appreciate that the circumstances behind this offence are kind of bizarre,” he said. “Perhaps they can be explained through alcohol intoxication, which, if he’s intoxicated to that degree near a school is problematic, but given the gap in his record, I’ll accept that this was an anomaly and that he is currently under medical treatment as it is, so I’ll leave it at that.”
Nick Christofides, district principal for safe and caring schools with the Burnaby school district, said Maywood held its dismissal bell for a couple minutes during the incident until police arrived and it was safe for students to leave the school.
He said school principal Kathryn Yamamoto did all the right things when the situation unfolded.
“In this and every other incident, our first priority is the safety of the school community,” Christofides said in an emailed statement. “The school principal did exactly what she needed to do by taking immediate steps to ensure that students were safe and could not see what was happening in the alley.”
Follow Cornelia Naylor on Twitter @CorNaylor
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