A Penticton man who pleaded guilty to an “excessively violent” assault was characterized as having Jekyll and Hyde tendencies.
“He can go from zero to 100 without provocation and once he is at 100, his behaviour is out of control. He is unable to calm himself down. His behaviour can be very, very scary,” said Crown counsel Nashina Devji, in court on Friday during the sentencing hearing, reading notes from the man’s counsellor.
According to the Crown’s circumstances, Thomas Brayden Kruger-Allen was at the Mule Nightclub on Aug. 12, 2017 with a group of friends when, according to the victim, they asked to meet him in a back alley nearby. Once there, one of the group members struck the man in the face and while he was on the ground the group continued to assault him. Kruger-Allen was identified as part of the group and kicked the man in the face. The victim’s injuries from the totality of the assault included stitches and a shattered nose and orbital bone
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In the Crown circumstances, Devji said it was shortly after, at 3:20 a.m., that RCMP caught up with the group of males and found one of them with blood on his clothes and hands. That person was immediately arrested, as was Kruger-Allen who RCMP said had blood on his shoes and some redness on his hands. The blood on his shoes matched that of the victim.
Damien Tyrell Keddie was one of the group that was charged with aggravated assault and sentenced to 240 days in prison. The court heard that Taish Alvin Desmonie, who faces the same charge, has not yet been found to be arrested.
Crown is seeking a six to eight month jail sentence and two years of probation for Kruger-Allen.
Devji said Kruger-Allen had a very difficult and sad upbringing where both his parents abused substances, leaving him with a childhood that was “riddled with chaos and violence.” She noted that due to his parents’ substance abuse, he was essentially left to fend for himself from the time he was five years old, quite often being neglected for long stretches of time. She added that his mother has been clean for the past seven years and they are working at repairing their relationship.
Devji said Kruger-Allen has proven he is a hardworking, good employee that has expressed interest in rehabilitation programs, however he also has an “explosive” temper linked to his abuse of alcohol that makes him a danger to the public.
Even in the controlled environment of jail, where he spent less than two months while awaiting for a bail hearing on another matter, Devji said he found himself in several altercations with inmates. Crown counsel Norman Yates explained the prison population tends to be aggressive to those who have sexual assault charges, which Kruger-Allen faces in an unrelated incident which also included an alleged assault on a man who is dealing with a serious brain injury. Yates said inmates would cause issues for Kruger-Allen—including throwing hot water at him. While in sick bay Kruger-Allen was involved in an altercation and then asked to be segregated, although Yates said that probably would have occurred anyways because of the incident.
Yates reminded the court any criminal charges that Kruger-Allen accrued after this incident were not to be taken into consideration on the sentencing position as he has yet to be in front of a judge for those charges.
Kruger-Allen also pleaded guilty to a breach of his conditions by being in possession or having consumed alcohol. On March 16, 2019 his mother called RCMP stating he had punched her and destroyed her house.
While she did not pursue charges on the assault she told RCMP she just wanted him dealt with because he was out of control.
Judge Andrew Tam said he needed more time to make a decision on sentencing and adjourned the matter until July 22.
Clarification:
The Penticton Western News originally reported that Thomas Brayden Kruger-Allen kicked the victim and shattered his nose and orbital bone when, in fact, those injuries were a result of the total assault by the group.
To report a typo, email: editor@pentictonwesternnews.com.
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