Teen gets 18 months for machete attack
Nicholas Dervin was walking his Doberman pinscher, Jango, near his Coventry Hills home on Feb. 13, when a group of about nine teens approached him and threatened to harm his dog.
Dervin had no idea that his return comment, “what’s the problem, what’s the issue, my dog is not barking or chasing you,” would lead to such a violent reaction: a machete attack.
He was taken to hospital that afternoon with numerous gashes to his face, ear, shoulder and back, and defensive wounds to his arm. He now has a lengthy scar on his face.
On Thursday, the machetewielding teen was sentenced to 18 months for aggravated assault and carrying a concealed weapon.
The victim spoke to reporters outside court after the sentencing
“He was threatening to kick my dog, and, in that manner, would have ended with my animal, my pet, it would have killed him,” Dervin said outside court.
“It was an unprovoked threat to what I took as a very good friend of mine. I said, ‘ what’s your problem,’ and it escalated to point that more and more of them were approaching the area and gathering to where the one who made the threats.”
Dervin, 30, he has no idea what would motivate the 17- year- old, who cannot be named because of provisions in the Youth Criminal Justice Act, to attack someone so violently.
He believes if it wasn’t for his size — at least six- foot- eight — his injuries would have been much worse.
The victim said he still has mixed feelings about the young offender and would need some time when he is not so emotional to articulate what he thinks of him.
Youth court Judge Steve Lipton had few good words for the teen, who has a history of violent offending, drug and alcohol abuse and a disdain for police and the so- called friends in his group, whom the offender says “ratted him out.”
He gave the offender what case law says is the high watermark for sentences for youths for aggravated assault, plus 12 months probation: six each on those charges and two breaches of release conditions associated with other offences from last October.
“That’s about the upper limit,” Lipton said. “There’s not one case in the country with circumstances as gruesome as this one where the sentence is higher.
“He has a significant addictions issues, and I would like to deal with them first. He will be a member of SHOP ( Serious Habitual Offenders Program) in addition to this. This is also his last opportunity to prove he is not just talking the talk about it.”
Lipton also prohibited the teen from having any contact with all of the others who were present during the attack and he cannot come within 500 metres of the victim’s home.
He gave him credit for four months already spent in custody, ordered him to provide a DNA sample and banned him from possessing any weapons for eight years.
Crown prosecutor Katherine Love, who sought the 18- month sentence, said the teen is at the highest level of risk to reoffend, because of his propensity for violence.
“He is still angry with and poses a threat to those who co- operated with police, and he distrusts police and the justice system,” Love said.
“He’s not far from entering the adult system and he was already at a high risk of escalating before this incident.
“He was involved in an incident at the Calgary Young Offenders Centre with some of the others who were at the assault, in which the TAC team had to be called in to restore order.”
Defence lawyer Dana Mah, who argued for a 12- month sentence after credit for time served, told court her client’s reaction to what he may have perceived from one of the others as a slight to his girlfriend, was uncalled for.
“His reaction, frankly, was over the top, even if his understanding was what took place,” Mah said.
“He comes from a broken home at a young age and the divorce between his mom and dad is still acrimonious ... it has affected him a great deal and results in overreacting.
He has come to the realization that among his peer group many names are well known to the courts. He can’t hang around with them anymore.”
The teen was on probation at the time of the attack, stemming from guilty pleas to seven charges last October, including possession of a stolen vehicle, dangerous driving, break and enter to commit theft, and three failures to comply with court orders.
He also pleaded to four counts of breaching release conditions, including consuming alcohol and breaching curfew, last January.