A man who burst into a Surrey apartment in a “pure rage,” armed with a machete, and later threatened to leave his victim “dead in the river” has been found guilty of assault causing bodily harm, kidnapping, extortion, and breaking-and-entering with the intent to commit an indictable offence.
Justice David Crerar in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster convicted Joseph William Edward Logan of the crimes on Jan. 8, related to events that occurred in Guildford between 5 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. on Dec. 1, 2017.
The victim, Michael Clair lived in a basement apartment about five minutes away from Logan’s mom’s townhouse and knew the Logans.
“By brandishing a machete, and breaking Mr. Clair’s nose, and trying to kick him, and punching him again, and threatening to leave him dead in the river, Mr. Logan intimated to Mr. Clair that this was no idle threat. There was no reasonable justification or excuse for Mr. Logan’s actions.
Crerar said in his reasons for judgment that Clair was awakened by the sound of breaking glass in his living room. The judge noted the victim “at first thought that it was a dream, or coming from another location” but “reality sunk in” when he heard his roommate’s bedroom door being kicked open.
His roommate was not home at the time.
Logan then entered Clair’s room, holding a large machete, and flipped on the lights.
“Mr. Clair described him as acting very aggressively, and being in a ‘pure rage,'” Crerar noted. “During his visit, Mr. Logan raised the machete up and down several times in a threatening manner. Mr. Clair, in his underwear, jumped to the far side of the bed and held up his comforter as a limited form of protection. There was screaming and swearing back and forth. Mr. Clair asked Mr. Logan why he was in the apartment.”
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The court heard Logan said words to the effect that Clair had 10 seconds to put his clothes on, “cause you’re coming with me,” and later yelled “come with me: you’re now a hostage.”
When Clair asked him why, Crerar noted, Logan said words to the effect of, “our home was robbed, my brother was stabbed,” and that Clair’s roommate was to blame. “Mr. Logan repeated this allegation several times. Mr. Clair denied it several times.”
As Clair was getting dressed Logan stepped across the hall to the bathroom to see to a large wound on his hand, cut when broke the living room window. “Mr Logan’s bleeding hand would leave a DNA trail from the broken window, to the bathroom, out the door, down the hall, out the front door of the building, into the Logan car, back to the Logan townhouse, and down to the Logan basement,” Crerar observed.
The two men walked down the front path of the apartment complex to Logan mother’s Nissan. Mr Clair recognized Logan’s youngest brother to be the driver. The three drove to the Logan residence. En route, Logan punched Clair in the eye and told him $4,000 had been stolen and if he couldn’t get it back from Clair’s roommate, he’d get it back from him.
“Mr Clair repeated that he was not involved in the theft. Mr Logan said words the effect of, ‘I know: I don’t care,'” the judge noted in his reasons for judgment.
The roommate called Clair, reporting that their apartment had been broken into. Logan took the phone. “At some point, he said words to the effect of, ‘if you don’t give me back what you took, you’ll find your friend dead the bottom of the river.’ Mr Clair understood that the friend referred to was himself, and described his feeling as ‘terrified.'”
Meantime, the Logan brothers decided the accused’s cut hand needed medical attention and they drove to Surrey Memorial Hospital. The youngest brother then took Clair back to the townhouse.
Police arrived at the townhouse at about 6:30 a.m. and Logan was arrested at about 7 a.m. Police were already at the hospital, investigating the circumstance of Logan’s third brother being stabbed.
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