Paraplegic man already suffered for attack: judge

Judge Ernie Quantz looked at the man in the blue hospital gown, sitting in a wheelchair with I.V. bags hanging off the back.

“Quite frankly, I don’t know what more punishment I can impose than what you have already suffered as a result of your own actions,” the Victoria provincial court judge said Wednesday as he sentenced Michael Device to probation.

On May 8, 2016, a drunken Device almost killed his wife in a jealous rage. When police came through the door, Device leaped off the fourth-floor balcony of their Carlton Terrace apartment in Esquimalt. As a result of his injuries, he is now a paraplegic.

In February, he pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily harm and unlawful confinement.

Quantz handed Device two years’ probation, with conditions that he abstain from alcohol and illicit drugs and take counselling as directed by his probation officer. “I’ve never dealt with a case like this, not even close to it,” Quantz said. “On one hand, the offence is very serious. On the other, the actions taken by the offender caused such harm to himself.”

Crown prosecutor Leslie Baskerville told the court that when Device’s wife woke up that morning, Device had already been drinking. He became physically abusive, pulling her hair and pushing her down on a chair. When she tried to phone a friend, he broke the phone.

Eventually, she went to the bathroom, put on the shower and called a friend on her cellphone. When her friend arrived, she was able to leave the apartment.

Although her friend warned her not to go back, she did because she thought Device would have passed out, said Baskerville.

He hadn’t. He grabbed her from behind, forced her down in a chair, punched her in the face a number of times, choked her, yelled and screamed at her and accused her of having an affair.

“He told her she would die and she thought she would die,” said Baskerville.

Device hit her head against the wall, knocking her out. When she came to, Device was straddling her, choking her. She blacked out a number of times. When she regained consciousness, she crawled to the bathroom, turned on the faucet and called 911.

When police came to the door, Device jumped off the balcony.

His wife was taken to the hospital and found to have a fractured orbital bone, and facial and neck bruising. The “vicious” assault, motivated by jealousy, deserved jail time, said Baskerville, who asked for a conditional sentence of nine to 12 months, citing the circumstances.

Defence lawyer Tom Morino said his client’s health has been deteriorating. Although he had been living at Mount St. Mary’s Hospital, Device has been at Royal Jubilee Hospital for several weeks and will remain there for a significant time, Morino said.

Device’s wife described him as a gentle, loving, kind person when he’s sober, Morino said.

Device said he couldn’t believe what happened and has no memory of the incident. “My wife has always been the most important thing in my life and for me to harm her like this … I feel there’s no amount of punishment that could be laid on me that I wouldn’t totally deserve. I’m so sorry for my wife.”