Vigilante freed with time served

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.