“I am a survivor of your senseless violence,” the crying female victim of a home invasion told a man as he awaited sentencing in Vancouver Provincial Court Jan. 26.
The woman was one of two people targeted by a masked gang kicking in an East Vancouver door looking for drugs on Sept. 23, 2020.
John Doe, 37, sat with his head down at the other end of the courtroom table on Friday. He was there to be sentenced on charges of breaking and entering a dwelling with intent to commit a robbery, robbery, two counts of aggravated assault, using an imitation firearm, possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose and disguising his face with intent to commit an offence.
He is the third person to be convicted in the incident.
Crown prosecutor Joanna Medjuck is asking for a nine-year sentence while defence lawyer David Ferguson has suggested five years.
Doe has served 808 days in jail for which he gets 1,329 days (just over 3.5 years) credit.
However, Judge Laura Bakan said she would be reserving her sentencing decision so she can examine the materials before her.
The incident
Medjuck told Bakan that, with another man and a female youth, he left downtown Vancouver for the Commercial Drive neighbourhood in a cab. The group stopped to buy rubber gloves and masks on the way, the court heard.
They arrived at a house where a man inside heard banging on his door and told whoever it was to go away.
The banging continued so he answered the door, saw a man in a mask and slammed the door.
The door was then kicked in, Medjuck said.
The man was attacked and another person woke up the terrified woman in the next room.
“Both victims received significant injuries, Medjuck said. “The violence was extreme. It was gratuitous.”
Both were extremely traumatized, she said.
Medjuck said because the gang was wearing masks, it has been hard to determine who did what.
“He has provided no information on that front,” she said. “He has not revealed his role in the offence and he’s not exhibited any empathy toward the victims.”
Medjuck said they were looking for a drug stash, and that greed was the motivation for the attack.
The victims were left "bloodied and beaten," Medjuck said.
Victim's tears
The female victim, who Glacier Media has chosen not to name, cried as she read a victim impact statement to the court.
“My life has been severely impacted by the atrocities,” the woman said.
She said she has endured staples, stitches, broken bones, vision loss and “severe balance issues due to my sinuses being smashed with the butt of a gun.”
“Your cowardice has allowed me to find my inner strength to stop drinking in order to stand in front of you,” she said.
She said she will continue to spend many hours of her life in doctors’ appointments and surgeries as a result of her injuries.
Doe’s background
Bakan heard Doe was born in the African country of Liberia where, at a young age, he lost his mother and other relatives in the country’s civil war.
His father then smuggled Doe and his sister into Ghana.
Soon after, they came to Canada but, Ferguson told Bakan, Doe had to deal with an aggressive father who was emotionally abusive.
“He didn’t thrive in Canada,” Ferguson said. “He felt racially profiled, targeted in Canada.”
The other convicted people
On Jan. 8, Vancouver Provincial Court Judge David St. Pierre sentenced Terry Houngbo-Gody. A former rising B.C. football player who pleaded guilty to eight counts of breaking and entering, robbery and aggravated assault, he was sentenced to four years in prison.
Another person was acquitted while the female youth got a two-year supervision order.
