A man who was filmed spewing racial slurs at an Abbotsford lawyer in October 2016 has pleaded guilty to one count of assault in relation to the incident.
Karry Corbett of Hope appeared briefly Friday morning in Abbotsford provincial court to enter the plea. Three other charges against him – uttering threats, causing a disturbance and another count of assault – are expected to be stayed at sentencing.
Corbett next appears Oct. 3 in court to set a date for sentencing.
The incident that led to the charges took place Oct. 21, 2016, when lawyer Ravi Duhra saw an attendant handing a ticket to a double-parked pickup truck in a parking lot in the 33600 block of South Fraser Way in Abbotsford.
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Duhra heard words exchanged, including an alleged threat, and went to take a picture of the truck’s licence plate. It was then that the truck’s passenger turned his ire on Duhra, who began filming the interaction.
The man spewed numerous racial slurs at Duhra, who is South Asian. Duhra’s video of the incident was later widely circulated across social media and drew international attention.
Corbett, 48, was subsequently charged in relation to his interaction with Duhra and with the 72-year-old parking attendant before Duhra began filming.
Police were initially unable to locate Corbett when the charges were laid, but he turned himself in four days later.
The assault charge to which he pleaded guilty involves his interaction with Duhra. Although Corbett did not physically touch the lawyer, an assault charge was laid because of his aggressive demeanour toward Duhra.
In February of this year, Corbett received a 45-day jail sentence and one-year probation for charges of uttering threats and possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose in December 2015 in Hope.
In April, he was handed a one-year driving ban for driving while prohibited in September 2016 in Abbotsford.
