Possible rights breach delays beach-attack sentencing
It’s too early to “close the book” on Thomas Kruger-Allen, his lawyer argued Wednesday during the continuation of his client’s sentencing hearing on charges stemming from a series of assaults on a Penticton beach that left one of the victims with serious brain injuries.
Kruger-Allen, 23, has pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, sexual assault and common assault in connection with the incident May 3, 2019.
He admitted to grabbing a woman’s buttocks, then punching her friend in the face, and finally delivering a single punch to the head of Brad Eliason, who was rendered immediately unconscious before falling and hitting his head on the concrete boardwalk along Okanagan Lake Beach.
“I just want to say that I am truly sorry,” KrugerAllen said when given a chance to address the court Wednesday via videoconference from the Okanagan Correctional Centre, where he’s been held since his arrest on an unrelated matter in October 2019.
“I feel bad for everything that happened,” added Kruger-Allen inside the Penticton courthouse.
Crown counsel Nashina Devji on Tuesday suggested a prison sentence in the range of five to six years, while defence counsel James Pennington argued for 12 to 18 months’ new time in a provincial jail so his client can access counselling and other services.
“Notwithstanding the life he has led up to October 2019, you can’t close the book on him,” said Pennington.
“There is potential and he needs to be given the chance to prove himself – and not just to you and I; he needs to prove himself to his community.”
Court heard previously that Kruger-Allen’s childhood was marked by abuse and neglect that contributed to him getting hooked on drugs and alcohol at the age of 15. Pre-sentencing reports rated Kruger-Allen, who is of Indigenous descent, as a high risk to reoffend, particularly if he uses drugs or alcohol.
The hearing was adjourned to March 5, when Pennington is expected to bolster his argument for a lighter sentence by introducing new evidence that his client’s Charter rights were breached when he was arrested by police the day after the assaults.
Kruger-Allen was arrested around the same time Eliason was undergoing emergency surgery at Kelowna General Hospital that included removing part of his skull to relieve pressure on his brain.
Eliason, who spent approximately three weeks in a medically induced coma, said in a victim impact statement Tuesday that he awoke to a nightmarish new reality.
“I have lost everything,” said Eliason. “My wife left me. I lost my house. I lost my pets. I can’t work.”
According to circumstances of the offences read into the court record, Eliason, who was 28 then, had been enjoying a late-night bonfire on the beach, when two women and a man stopped and joined them, followed later by Kruger-Allen and a friend.
At some point, while Eliason and his friend had gone to get more firewood, Kruger-Allen assaulted the two females. While they were struggling, Eliason arrived back on the scene and was soon after struck by Kruger-Allen with a single uppercut.
Kruger-Allen was on bail and awaiting sentencing for a separate assault at the time. He has been behind bars since October 2019 following his arrest for allegedly assaulting two people in a downtown Penticton apartment. That matter is set for a fourday trial in May.