A man sentenced last spring to three years' probation after sensational assaults captured on surveillance cameras is in trouble with the law again.
Shakwan David Kelly, 29, was charged with two counts of breach of a probation.
He was released from custody on Monday after a Vancouver Provincial Court appearance. Evidence is covered by a publication ban. Kelly’s next court date is Feb. 14.
Kelly pleaded guilty last March to four counts of assault and one count of wilfully resisting or obstructing a peace officer. He received credit for 255 days served in custody and was ordered to serve three years' probation. A Crown lawyer had asked for 14 to 16 months in jail plus probation.
Judge James Bahen heard Kelly struggles with addiction and mental illness, but ruled that he could be re-integrated to the community with proper supervision. Kelly apologized and asked for community forgiveness.
Kelly’s guilty pleas stemmed from a June 2022 assault on a woman on a bus, and a trio of July 2022 assaults: against two men at Vancouver General Hospital, a man at the Kettle Friendship Society and a man on a SkyTrain car.
Kelly had also been charged with assaulting a woman and her infant in Chinatown before his July 9, 2022 arrest. He was released after charges of mischief, assault and obstructing a peace officer, but skipped a scheduled court appearance. Kelly was returned to custody when Vancouver police arrested him later that month.
Footage of the incidents in Chinatown and on a Coast Mountain bus received considerable media attention in 2022, when stranger assaults and police staffing became significant issues in that year’s civic election.
With files from Jeremy Hainsworth
