A Maple Ridge man will spend 7.5 years in jail for a bus stop stabbing in Coquitlam eight years ago.
A judge at provincial court in Port Coquitlam sentence Tyrel William Scott to 7.5 years in jail after he stabbed Cody Cardiff on Dec. 15, 2011.
Court documents from Oct. 28 state Cardiff, then 20, had been busing home at about 2 a.m. after visiting a friend in Surrey. He got off the bus at the Coquitlam Centre bus loop, and so did Scott, who had been on the same bus.
Scott walked up to Cardiff and offered him a cigarette before pulling out a knife and stabbing Cardiff twice in the torso. He left the scene before police arrived.
Court document said the “attack was entirely unprovoked and apparently without any motive,” and Scott did not know Cardiff.
When police arrived, the found Cardiff covered in blood, bleeding from two stab wounds in the chest and stomach area. Documents state he went into full cardiac arrest and went into surgery that cut through his sternum to repair his hear, liver and diaphragm. His lung collapsed a few days later, but he recovered and was released from hospital on Dec. 24.
At the scene of the attack, Mounties brought in a police dog that found a hoodie and a toque that had Scott’s DNA on it. The dog also found a knife with Cardiff’s blood on it.
Scott was not identified till February 2012 when police held a press conference and released images and videos. He was identified by the public shortly after that but Scott was not charged until mid-2017 following a “Mr. Big” operation.
Police had begun targeting Scott in March 2017 via an undercover operation to find evidence to connect him to the attack on Cardiff. On June 29, 2017, police had enough evidence for Crown to charge him.
In a victim impact statement, Cardiff stated the attacked was a near-death experience.
“His self-image has been affected and he is constantly reminded of the horrific night of the attack anytime his shirt does not hide the entire scar or he is asked how he got the scar,” court documents state. “More than six years after the attack, he continues to suffer from nerve pain that sends shooting spasms through his upper body.”
Justice R.P. McQuillan called the attack “unquestionably horrific.”
Cardiff now panics when he is a in big group of strangers and has been forced to finance a car so he can get around. He also lost $20,000 because he wasn’t able to get a refund for the school program he was attending at the time of the attack.
While police officers were conducting their undercover operation, they found multiple illegal firearms, date rape drug GHB, 11 grams of hash oil and $2,400 of dried marijuana.
At a separate time, Scott was found to have 25 grams of fentanyl, 4.43 grams of methamphetamine, 1.3 grams of MDMA, an additional 77 grams of marijuana and $905 in cash.
A secondary search revealed that the bulge in his crotch area was a fanny pack containing $12,715 in cash.
In deciding on the sentence length, McQuillan took into account a troubled home life while Scott was growing up. Court documents state he had “significant behaviour challenges.” He was expelled in Grade 10 for fighting and truancy. He was sexually abused at age 12 and has been diagnosed with PTSD as a result.
Scott began drinking alcohol at age 13, using cannabis and cocaine at age 15, had overdose on fentanyl three times and hasbeen selling drugs since 2005.
Scott has a lengthy rap sheet which began in 2004, when he was 26, and has accumulate 39 previous convictions.
McQuillan said although the total sentence for Scott’s firearms, drug trafficking and assault convictions was 14 years and five months, in his view that would be “unduly harsh, crushing and disproportionate and may have the effect of discouraging rehabilitation.”
McQuillan sentenced Scott to 11 years, which was reduced to 7.5 after years of pre-sentence custody.
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