A Penticton judge is deliberating the sentence for a man who attacked a pizza delivery driver with a box cutter.
Dayne Douglas Jones, 28, pleaded guilty to assault with a weapon and willfully resisting or obstructing a peace officer.
Co-owner of Canadian 2 for 1 Pizza, Brian Booth, suffered substantial injuries to his hands and face after an altercation with Jones at his Westminster Avenue residence on Dec. 14, 2015. Booth drove himself to the hospital after escaping the attack, in which Jones used a box cutter.
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“I’m regretful of the situation. I’m doing my best to really get my life back on track and once this is behind me that’s what I plan on doing, for sure,” Jones said.
Crown counsel Nashina Devji is seeking a jail sentence in the range of two to six years.
Jones ordered a pizza to his apartment, but when Booth arrived Jones was intoxicated and could not find his wallet. Jones later called Canadian 2 for 1 again requesting the pizza be delivered and was threatening the staff in conduct his lawyer said was befitting of “a loudmouth drunk.”
“No doubt he was very drunk,” defence counsel James Pennington said. “He couldn’t find his wallet. His wallet was actually in the apartment, which he subsequently found.”
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Police encountered resistance from Jones when they arrived at his apartment to arrest him.
Pennington asked for a two to three-year suspended sentence, or alternatively, 90 days of intermittent jail time.
Pennington said what did not square up in the facts was why Booth shows up at Jones’ apartment the second time.
“It should also be noted that Mr. Booth is not your average pizza delivery guy who is scrounging to make a living. Mr. Booth is one of the owners of the Canadian 2 for 1 franchise here in Penticton,” Pennington said. “With that in mind one has to ask oneself why he would take it upon himself to go to this apartment for the sake of a $20 pizza.”
Pennington said Booth went to the apartment to “teach Mr. Jones a lesson. That he can’t be mouthing off to his staff.”
Pennington noted that Booth had size advantage, and Booth is a trained in Jiu-Jitsu, having competed at the tournament level. Pennington also said Booth entered the apartment in an aggressive manner and during the altercation put Jones on his back when Jones pulled a boxcutter from his belt.
“The injuries to (Jones’) foot are clearly indicative of a martial arts takedown,” Pennington said. “There’s no two ways about it, Mr. Jones used excessive force in trying to repel Mr. Booth.”
Devji argued there was no evidentiary basis for Pennington’s claims pertaining to why Booth returned to the apartment and comments Pennington made about Booth’s personal life.
Sharlene Deverill Franklin, a mental health and substance clinician who has worked with Jones at a local outreach centre for just under three years, spoke at the sentencing hearing on Feb. 21 in Penticton Provincial Court. Jones stopped engaging with counselling prior to the incident and had re-engaged afterwards.
She said Jones suffers from “fairly debilitating anxiety,” saying he self medicated with substances and alcohol and has followed through with all treatment goals since the incident.
“I would argue that a period of custody would be destabilizing for him. It’s taken us a long time to get him stable and it’s taken a lot of work on Dayne’s part to incorporate new skills and to have new views of the world on a day-to-day basis,” Deverill Franklin said.
Judge Gail Sinclair said he would need time to deliberate the proper sentence for Jones, and the sentencing was adjourned to the judicial case manager to set a date sometime in March.
