Homeless vigilante freed with time served

Man had been held in jail for 16 months

A homeless vigilante who repeatedly stabbed a man he suspected of sexual assault was sentenced Tuesday to time he’d already served.

Ken Maurice Butler knifed Nevada Vance in downtown Kelowna hours after he’d been warned by police to leave the investigation to them.

“I really regret getting involved in that situation,” Butler, 32, said before sentencing. “I just should have left it alone, left it to the police.”

Judge Lisa Wyatt accepted a joint sentencing recommendation from Crown and defence. She said the sentence of 16 months Butler was credited for in jail after his arrest was on the low end for aggravated assault, but appropriate considering the circumstances.

Butler, originally from Newfoundland, and Vance knew each other from their time at a homeless shelter at the Emmanuel Assembly church in downtown Westbank.

In December 2016, a young woman complained to Butler that Vance had sexually assaulted her. Butler soon encountered Vance in a Westbank gas station, where Vance pulled a knife on him.

Butler disarmed Vance, took the alleged victim to the Emmanuel Assembly church, then tracked Vance to downtown Kelowna.

A Kelowna RCMP officer investigating the alleged sexual assault told Butler to leave the area, but Butler instead got into an altercation with Vance and stabbed him several times. Vance was hospitalized for several days.

“It’s lucky they were able to tend to his wounds and get him healed,” Wyatt told Butler.

No charges have been laid against Vance in connection with the alleged sexual assault of the young woman. He did not appear in court.

Butler’s lawyer, Cory Armour, said his client’s actions may have been influenced by something that happened to him when he was a young boy.

At age eight, Armour said, Butler witnessed his mother being attacked by her brother. Later, Butler worked at a strip club where he routinely saw women mistreated by men, Armour said.

“The state of mind of Mr. Butler was that this girl had been assaulted,” Armour said of Butler. “He is perhaps more sensitive to violence against women than other individuals. He said he got flashbacks to what had happened to his mother . . . it took over.”

Crown prosecutor David Grabavac said one consideration in accepting the joint sentencing recommendation was that more than 18 months had elapsed since Butler was arrested and Monday’s court proceedings.

That violates a recent Supreme Court of Canada order that criminal trials should be concluded within 18 months of a person being charged with a criminal offence.

The main reason the case went beyond 18 months is that Vance did not show up for court proceedings last November. His current whereabouts is unknown, court heard.

Butler, who has been living in Penticton and working as a floorer while out on bail, intends to go back to Newfoundland where he has family that includes two young sons.

Judge Wyatt told Butler, who she also placed on probation for three years, to be a good role model to his boys.