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A woman who randomly punched a 97-year-old war veteran near West Vancouver's Centennial Seawalk, breaking the man’s glasses and causing cuts to his face, will be released from jail after spending over four months in custody.
Saima Qamar, 53, was sentenced to time already served on Friday (Oct. 14) after being found guilty by Judge Diana Dorey of assaulting the elderly man in a stranger attack near the Seawalk on May 23.
Dorey said she was releasing Qamar because she had already served more than the 90-day jail sentence she would normally have imposed in the case.
In doing so, however, the judge expressed concerns that Qamar is likely suffering from mental illness and still poses a risk to reoffend given her refusal to take part in a psychiatric evaluation.
Unprovoked stranger attack
Crown counsel Mark Slay described the attack as an unprovoked and “brutal assault” on then-97-year-old Joseph McCaig, as he was returning from grocery shopping on his electric scooter along Bellevue Avenue.
In court Thursday, McCaig, now 98, told the judge, as he approached the busy intersection of Bellevue and 17th Street he saw a woman sitting in a chair, “calling out things I didn’t understand.”
He was partway across the crosswalk when “I was struck by a blow of some kind,” said McCaig. “My glasses were knocked to the ground.”
McCaig said he saw a woman he identified as Qamar nearby, holding something in her hand. Bystanders rushed over to help him.
Police arrived soon after and found McCaig bleeding from his head.
Officers who testifed in court said they found Qamar nearby, speaking in “incoherent sentences,” said the judge. They arrested her and took her back to cells, where she remained “argumentative and difficult.”
In a victim impact statement, McCaig said he was unable to take part in his usual activities for several months after the attack because he didn’t have a good pair of glasses. Veterans Affairs wouldn’t cover the cost of a new pair, he said, and he had to pay for an eye exam and an inferior pair of glasses at a cost of over $455.
It’s the second stranger attack Qamar has been convicted of in West Vancouver.
Accused threw hot coffee at library staffer
Earlier this month, on Oct. 4, she was also found guilty of assaulting a staff member at the West Vancouver Memorial Library by throwing a hot cup of coffee on the woman on Dec. 5, 2019.
In that case, a young woman was studying with friends at the library when Qamar – who she didn’t know - began to verbally harass her, making comments about her clothing, including, “How did your family let you out like that? This is not a swimming pool. Have you forgotten to put on clothes?”
The woman told Qamar, “This is a free country and I can dress however I want,” she testified. She then left the area of the coffee shop.
A library staff member approached Qamar, telling her, “She needed to be respectful.”
“That’s when she threw the coffee at me,” the staffer testified in court. The hot coffee left her with first-degree burns, she said.
Judge Susan Sangha said a jail sentence of 14 days would have been appropriate in that case but sentenced her to time served and 12 months’ probation, with terms to take counselling as directed by her probation office. Qamar was also ordered to stay away from the West Vancouver library and the 1700 block of Marine Drive and Bellevue Avenue in West Vancouver.
Undiagnosed mental health issues
Throughout both court hearings, both the prosecutor and judges struggled with how to deal with what they described as Qamar’s apparent but undiagnosed mental health problems.
Qamar refused assistance from a lawyer, refused to testify and refused to provide any background information about herself.
She often talked and laughed to herself in the prisoner’s dock, causing Dorey to warn her several times about her “unacceptable” behaviour in court.
The prosecutor told the judge Qamar had refused to take part in psychiatric evaluations on five separate occasions while in custody.
Slay told the judge he had spoken with Qamar’s sister in the U.S., a medical doctor, who was very concerned and said Qamar had been exhibiting signs of undiagnosed schizophrenia for about 10 years. Qamar is well-educated and trained as an orthodontist in New York, Slay told the court. The sister said in the past she had cared for Qamar in the U.S., but Qamar’s behaviour in public resulted in her being deported back to Canada, he said.
A doctor at the forensic psychiatric hospital where Qamar spent some of her time in custody said Qamar was not exhibiting signs of psychosis at that time, although he added she may have been “between episodes,” said Slay.
The judge said, however, there was little point in ordering a psychiatric evaluation when Qamar had made it clear she would refuse to take part.
In sentencing Qamar to time already served, Dorey urged her to take advantage of the counselling and medical assistance being offered.
“You have a life ahead of you. You need to get some help,” she told Qamar. “The public is at risk if you can’t control your behaviour.”
